The Ultimate Crossover Crisis Brawl
by Crossoverlover12
Summary: When an unknown villain with a grudge attacks the Earth intending to destroy all the existing dimensions on it, the characters of said dimensions find themselves fighting to survive and ultimately uniting to take down the big bad threat. Various TV show, Video game and Web comic characters end up meeting each other for the adventure to save not just one world, but all worlds.
1. Introduction

It was rare that anything had happened on the outskirts of Earth. Most days it was just emptiness and nothingness; pure silence and not a sign of life in sight. However, that trend was suddenly broken by a loud bang followed by a large and ominous ship appearing out of nowhere in a colorful vortex.

At the helm of the ship was an equally ominous individual who overlooked the planet as a lot of activity took place around him. He had told all his workers that this was the day for him and for everyone and the tone of "no screw-ups allowed" were as clear as ever. "It`s weird seeing this place again. Can`t believe that once upon a time I was well known here. Oh, how times have changed.", the Boss told himself gazing at the planet, malicious intent brewing in his gaze. As he stared at the green and blue, repressed memories of scorn, humiliation and defeat pulsed through his mind. Times did change for him all right. Once he felt like he was part of the populace, but now… "Boss! Is it time to deploy the troops?", a voice suddenly called snapping the boss from his train of thought. Glancing bitterly at the source of the sound, the Boss saw someone wearing a lot of light armor approach him eagerly.

Biting his lip under his face mask as tight as he could, the boss waited for the moment when the other person reached him. "We have everything ready to go? Do you want to say the big order or should I? I mean, I am pretty important…"

"Mal." The Boss said which immediately made his second in command be quiet. "Yes?" "What did I tell you about bothering me before the invasion?" "That you wanted to do some thinking in peace?", Mal replied to his boss as if it were so obvious. "Yes. To think in peace. I have been waiting years for this plan of revenge to come into play. And do you know why Mal?" Mal glanced at the Earth. "Taking over the world is a tricky task. Perhaps we can just seize…" The Boss suddenly cut off Mal with a loud interruption.

"This plan isn`t just about taking down Earth! We have`nt been spending all that time in exile for a cliché plan we`ve seen fail millions of times on the big and small screen. If we took over the Earth, some part of it will always live on, like another dimension. Get what I`m saying Mal? The meeting last night when I programed the data for all the armies?"

Mal`s eyes suddenly lit up as he recalled the details. "Oh, now I got it. We won`t be taking over the planet. We will invade every single existing dimension from within." "Right. If my desire is to wipe out the existence of every being in every dimension, then I will be right where I belong on that world. Nobody will be greater than me ever again." The Boss stated before he moved over to the control panel with Mal following him eagerly. Pressing a set of buttons, the Boss and Mal watched as the ship opened up many compartments on the sides of the ship. Many drone like robots floated out quickly towards Earth, only to vanish in a bunch of flashes right away.

As Mal walked over to the window to watch the invading forces eagerly, the Boss walked over to a nearby intercom and spoke into the speaker.

"Alpha Drone. Beta Destroyer. Come in. Do you copy?" After a pair of robotic voices replied "Yes.", the Boss then said, "Good. Good. Listen up, the first dimension will come up in three minutes. Once all our robotic soldiers on deck and in the field start to neutralize the targets and keep tabs on the places we will wipe out. Alpha Drone, open the holding bay. Beta Destroyer, boost all the carrier drones devices online at a countdown."

The Boss then glanced at the Earth one last time before saying, "Show no mercy." , as the last order.


	2. Keeping Up Appearances- Part 1

_Chapter 1: Buckets of Fun_

 _Keeping Up Appearances_

 **(Authors note: When I wrote this story I kinda imagined it played like a PS4 fighting game with a lot of story in between the fights (basically a story over gameplay fight) This chapter has some notes in it to clear up some details that will come up from beginning to end).**

As soon as she was sure it was safe, Elizabeth "Liz" Warden stepped out of her house to get the mail. It was a fine morning in England today and the neighborhood was peaceful, but to Liz and anyone living in this area they knew that looks could be deceiving. As Liz got to the mailbox, she felt a familiar sense of doom lurking towards her. "Maybe for once I`ve caught a break. Maybe it won`t happened.", she nervously told herself as she took the letters, hoping she didn`t get spotted already.

Once all the letters were in her hand, she glanced at the neighboring house and then her own front door and began to quickly move for the door at a steady pace. 30 feet…20 feet…10…

"Elizabeth!", came a loud shout next door suddenly. Elizabeth stopped in frustration and turned to see her neighbor Hyacinth Bucket, dressed in her usual high class attire with a new small blue hat today. Looking as high class as she could, Hyacinth waved to her neighbor as she walked out to her garden. Trying not to let her defeat of getting caught outside again get shown, Liz forced a smile and said, "Hyacinth", while also approaching her after quickly shoving the letters through her mail slot.

"Oh how nice it is outside today. It surely reflects how polished my windows are. My Richard got the most expensive brand of window cleaner and scrubbed them until they truly shined", Hyacinth boasted, gesturing towards her house while hoping someone important would pass by it today and notice the detail.

As Liz passively noted the shining windows, she tried to excuse herself before the inevitable happened: tea time. "Yes, they are very nice Hyacinth, but I`m afraid…".

"My dear Richard worked so hard yesterday as I encouraged him to get those windows cleaned for my candle light supper. He did it with such vigor, though I don`t know why he sounded a tad off. Anyway, care to come in for some tea and biscuits?", Hyacinth continued as if she didn`t even hear Liz speak. Knowing that it would be pointless to decline at this point, Liz sighed and nodded.

Before Liz could take a step forward though, a loud rumbling sound from above caught the women's attention. "That`s strange, and not a cloud in the sky.", Hyacinth noted before signaling Liz inside her place. As Liz entered the house and was made to take off her shoes in the front as to not damage the pristine floor inside, neither she nor Hyacinth noticed that the sky above was starting to slowly darken. After Hyacinth closed the front door, several unknown figures appeared out of nowhere at the end of the block and their malicious intent quickly began.

Inside the household, Liz and Hyacinth entered the kitchen. "Do sit down anywhere you like.", Hyacinth told her guest as Liz looked at the only two chairs at the kitchen table. While Hyacinth approached her kitchen cabinet to get some tea cups and a tray, Liz went for the seat farther from the door. As she sat down Hyacinth suddenly looked back and added, "Not there though. I like to face the window", making Liz jump out of the chair as if it were on fire. She quickly moved for the other chair and barely sat down before Hyacinth asked her, "China cup or beaker for your tea?", "Beaker. Definently beaker.", Elizabeth quickly stated, knowing that any time she handled Hyacinths china tea cups (or any cup here) she ended up dropping it and in turn caused a huge mess on the floor, much to her and Hyacinths horror.

"I should have you know that my next candlelight supper will be something that will be very special", Hyacinth said as she put the cups of tea on a tray. "Really? How so?", Liz asked not letting her hopes up too much within, as every candlelight supper she ended up attending seemed special.

Boastfully, Hyacinth declared, "My dear son Sheridan is coming home tonight. After studying hard to achieve the highest honors, he`s coming over to see his mummy and daddy. He also said that there will be big news that everyone can`t wait to hear", before approaching the table and handing Liz her teacup. As Hyacinth sat down and started to drink her own tea, Liz thought she heard what sounded like a loud laser blast outside followed by a scream. "Hyacinth, what is that noise?", she asked almost standing up, so baffled she didn`t feel nervous about spilling something for a moment. "Oh, sit down and relax Elizabeth. Probably some kids playing too noisily. You know how they can be, acting disrespectful to the neighbors like their own personal space and time means nothing to them", Hyacinth casually replied, missing the irony of her statement.

As Liz picked up her tea cup and found her hand shaking in fear right away over the fear of spilling it, Hyacinth picked up a small plate full of biscuits and offered her one. "No thanks", Liz quickly declined before the two women suddenly felt a sudden chill in the house. "Oh, it`s starting to feel a bit draft", Liz commented after setting down her cup (and nearly spilling it) to rub her hands warm. "Yes, it is isn`t it? Well, I`m going to call the heating service and let them know that they have been slothful towards their duties in keeping this household at an acceptable room temperature. Thank heavens Sheridan isn`t here to experience this travesty. He would have been in a frenzy", Hyacinth replied before leaving the kitchen.

In the hallway, Hyacinth closed the kitchen door and approached the phone. Hoping nobody important would call during her talk, she opened up the phone book next to the device and dialed the number for the electric company, intending to get the CEO on hold. As the phone rang, several other laser blasts and screams were heard outside making Hyacinth look a bit concerned. "Better not be a riot the day my boy comes home", she could only say before she reached someone on the other end.

As soon as Hyacinth was gone, Liz also heard more screaming and chaos outside; distant but giving the illusion that something very dangerous was going on. This was not what she expected from a visit to this house. Things were stressful enough without the constant fear of spilling coffee and her brother Emmet was out today doing errands.

Realizing she was quivering without anything to spill for once, Liz took a deep breath and told herself to stop it. There was no way something severe was taking place outside. Was there? It could be a celebration or…or…

Liz`s curiosity finally took over as she got up and approached the kitchens screen door to get a look outside, wondering if she could spot the source of all the racket. As she noted the darkened sky above and tried to look for more details as to what was going on, she heard Hyacinth talk a bit from the hallway. "…that`s B-U-C-K-E-T. Bouquet, not bucket…What do you mean you can`t help? I would like to let you know that you`re speaking to one of the most recognizable people in the upper class communities with the fanciest windows in town…"

Feeling Hyacinth would be no help for the moment, Liz returned all her focus to the events outside again where she suddenly noticed that something strange was now standing in Hyacinths backyard that wasn`t there moments earlier. It looked like a killer robot from a sci-fi that was painted grey from head to toe and had what could best be described as mini cannons for hands, with icy vapor emitting from both of them. The second she got a good look at it, she could only gasp in terror and slowly back away from the door, the sight of the thing making her feel scared right away and in disbelief. Every step she took back had the drone hover closer to the house.

"Hyacinth!", she could barely say aloud. "What is it Elizabeth? I`m trying to get ahold of the head of the British Electric Company. It`s very peculiar. Almost sounds like there`s a riot on the other end of the phone! Surely this could not do", Hyacinth answered with concern.

"There`s…there`s…", Liz began in a panic as she backed into the kitchen table. Her tea cup, already on the edge of the table, began to tilt over prompting Liz to yelp and quickly grab it, taking her eyes off the drone for a split second. As she looked up again, she noticed the drone was literally at the screen door and held an arm up; its weapon pointed directly at her and about to fire. "Elizabeth? Are you alright?", Hyacinth called as Liz`s instincts screamed for her to move.

 **(Before a fight takes place in the story, sometimes some QTE segments will appear in a similar matter to "Injustice: Gods Among Us". If the player hit the prompt in time, the character(s) in harms way will get no damage, but if the player misses then a certain percentage of the characters health before a fight is lost).**

 **Prompt:** **X Button**

 **Pressed in time-** _Before Liz could answer, the drone suddenly charged though the screen door and fired a ball of ice at her. Luckily for her, Liz managed to dive out of the way of the blast and stood up near the counter as the drone stopped close to where she was a moment ago. "Back off!", Liz shouted throwing her beaker at the drone, making it move back a little as the liquid made its circuits go briefly haywire. As it lumbered around, the drone ended up smacking the kitchen table and cut it in two and fired a stray blast that hit the cabinet containing a lot of the Bucket household's dishware, making Liz flinch as Hyacinth called out in utter dismay, "Elizabeth, did you spill your tea again?", "Sort of", Liz replied a bit meekly as her foe regained its composure and moved in for another attack._

 **Failed to press-** _Before Liz could answer, the drone suddenly charged though the screen door and fired a ball of ice at her. Just as Liz was about to move, the icy blast managed to hit her and freeze a part of her torso, making it impossible for her to move as the drone got to her and slammed her. Liz found herself hit the kitchen table while struggling to get out of her icy restraints. As she tried to withhold the pain, Hyacinth called out from the hallway, "What`s going on in there Liz? You sound like you`re in a scuffle." Before Liz could answer to that, the drone then hit her again sending her flying into the china cabinet where her icy restraints as well as her beaker and a lot of the Buckets household dishware also broke. Liz managed to get up quickly as she saw her foe get ready for another attack._ **(Elizabeth: -5% health)**

In the hallway during the whole attack, Hyacinth noted that the sounds in the kitchen really did sound like a warzone and flinched. She would have hung up and investigated her rapidly growing concerns, but the person she was speaking too on the other end came back, and the feeling that this call was too important to hang up to overtook her instincts, though what she was hearing got her more concerned by the second. "Yes, this is the lady of the Bouquet household speaking…what`s wrong with your tone? You sound more panicked then before…I don`t care if you keep saying the end of the world is happening. You can have a better tone in your voice", Hyacinth said to the panicked gibberish on the other end as another loud crash was heard in the kitchen, making her flinch even more in dread. "I`m sorry, but I must hang up. Be sure to let your boss know that I called and that he should answer immediately to my concerns."

After Hyacinth hung up, she quickly polished the phones handle with a dust rag in her pocket before heading towards the kitchen door. Things inside suddenly sounded like they got very quiet.

"Elizabeth, is there someone…" Hyacinth began to call in panic before the drone and Liz suddenly burst from the wall behind her and into her phone, making the lady of the house fall to the floor and scream in panic. What she saw was Liz punching the drone in the head repeatedly as it held her head with one transformed arm into a near choking grip while the other hand pointed the freeze cannon at her with the intent to fire at close range.

 **Prompt:** **Square button**

 **Hit in time-** _In a quick display of instinct, Liz managed to grab onto the household phone with her free hand and smashed it into the drone, making it stumble back through the hole in the wall as it let go of her. Amazed by what she did, Liz took a second to compliment her achievement before rushing to Hyacinth. As she helped Hyacinth up, Liz then exclaimed quickly, "Did you see that? I don`t know how lucky I got.", "Lucky my Sheridan isn`t here to see his childhood home in a state of disarray. He would have broke down in hysteria", Hyacinth could only reply with dread noting all the damage done to her perfect house._

 **Failed to press-** _Before Liz could do anything, the drone suddenly hit her with an icy blast and froze a fraction of her head. "Liz! You let go of her you ruffian! I hope the neighbors aren`t watching this!" Hyacinth yelled getting up and grabbing a piece of debris on her way to the drone. As the drone dropped Liz and made the ice on her face shatter, Hyacinth whacked the drone hard enough to send it stumbling back to the kitchen. "Liz!? Are you alright?!", Hyacinth asked in alarm as she saw her neighbor get up rubbing the part of her face that was frozen. "Yes Hyacinth. Just…trying to get the blood to flow from within again", Liz meekly replied._ **(Elizabeth: -5% health)**

Before either woman could do or say anything else, the drone suddenly reemerged in front of them. Even though its face was generic and lacked emotion they both felt the device in front of them was really angry. "Hyacinth. I think we`d best run!", Elizabeth exclaimed before dragging her friend to the living room. As the two women made their way amid the mess, icy blasts sailed past both of them making Hyacinth yelp in terror; the drone was eager to finish what it was programed to do.

As the two women reached the living room, the drone stopped at the doorway and fired a blast at Hyacinth, looking like it would be a direct hit. As she glanced back, Hyacinth ended up realizing this as well.

 **Prompt:** **X Button**

 **Hit in time-** _Luckily for her though, Hyacinth managed to step out of the way at the nick of time. The icy blast ended up flying past her and hit the window behind her, shattering it. Upon seeing what the device did to Richards hard work, Hyacinth then flinched with dread and for once felt happy that nobody else had to see the damage. Think of all the gossip it could have sparked._

 **Failed to press-** _Before Hyacinth could react, the blast ended up hitting her in the back and sent her flying into the armchair close by, flipping her and the chair to the floor. Running over, Elizabeth helped Hyacinth up as she mumbled, "Don`t worry about me Elizabeth. Nothing can hurt my upperclass pride…ow…" and rubbed her back immediately as she got back to her own two feet._ **(Hyacinth: -5% health)**

"Hyacinth, we have to do something about that thing! I don`t know how long we`ll survive!", Liz exclaimed in panic as the two women evaded another blast. "Elizabeth, are you saying that we fight that device head on!?", Hyacinth exclaimed, startled that her sensitive friend could think of something brutal quickly. "No, I didn`t suggest…", Liz began when another blast hit a nearby cabinet and knocked over all the contents. Hyacinth looked at the damage in alarm. "No! Some of my favorite photos of Sheridan were in that cabinet! Now I possibly can`t show them to you or Emmet or anyone important if I invite them over!"

As Liz suppressed a satisfied grin at the thought of that (as she had seen quite a lot of those photos more than once during some "visits" to this place) Hyacinth raised her fists and gestured for the drone to come to her. "Come on Elizabeth. Let's teach this monster a lesson. Nobody invades my household, attacks my friend and dirties the place up and gets away with it!", she declared before grabbing Liz with one hand and moving closer to the enemy with her as the drone itself looked suddenly ready to throw some punches.

 **Fight 1-1:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Elizabeth**

 **-Hyacinth**

 _ **Opponent:**_

 **1 freeze drone**

 **(At this point in the game, the fight would have broken out. How it would work is that the player would select in order which characters they wished to use for the fight, controlling one at a time. Then, in a hybrid of the Injustice and Super Smash Bros. style, the character would fight all the enemies listed in the opponent section. If the playable character runs out of health, the next one that was selected will be the fighter. Once all the foes are defeated, the story would move on)**

After the fight:

As soon as the last punch was delivered, Liz and Hyacinth took a few steps back as they watched the drone spin around a bit while fizzing out electricity. Finally, it stopped functioning and hit the floor with a loud thud. After an intense moment of silence, Liz picked up a nearby lamp and slowly approached the device while Hyacinth stayed back. The moment Liz got close enough to the drone, she tapped it with the lamp and got no reaction. "I think it`s dead", Liz told Hyacinth, making her give a huge sigh of relief. A stray jolt of electricity suddenly popped, making Liz jump and drop the lamp on the ground where it shattered.

Looking at the damage and then at Hyacinth alarmed, Liz exclaimed in a panic, "Oh dear. I`m so sorry Hyacinth. I didn`t…", "That`s okay Elizabeth. It was just a rare antique lamp my mum once gave me. I`m…sure it can be replaced", Hyacinth said trying to muster as much calm as she could.

Thankfully for Liz, a series of loud noises outside suddenly took the attention off the lamp. Cautiously, both women approached the window and peered out. There, they saw a few more of the drone's hover by. "Good heavens! There`s more of those things!?", Liz exclaimed. Hyacinth then signaled Liz to be quiet as she heard someone down the block run by screaming.

Both women saw what looked like a middle aged man running from a pair of drones, which fired their icy cannons at him. To their horror, the duo watched the man get fully encased in ice with some well-timed blasts. After a moment passed, the frozen man then started to float up into the sky. After he was 30 feet up, he then vanished in midair as the drones left to find other targets.

Hyacinth and Liz found themselves backing away from the window in fear and disbelief. "It`s even worse than I feared. We are being taken over by an alien race or something equally horrifying", Liz exclaimed, her voice shaking more than ever. As she inhaled and exhaled deeply, Hyacinth suddenly looked equally panicked.

"Richard", "What?", "I sent Richard into town an hour ago for the best turkey he could get for my candlelight supper. He`s out there in the cold and unknown world that has fully turned to anarchy!", Hyacinth boasted in panic.

Liz suddenly looked alarmed at the mention of Richard. "Emmet. He went out as well today. He could also be in danger! And my daughter, Gayle!", she realized. Quickly, Liz began to head for the front door with a confused Hyacinth following. "Wait Liz, what are you doing?", "Going to find my brother and daughter. I know it`s risky but I must do what I can. They might be in danger."

After looking at the damage the single drone managed to do to her perfect house, Hyacinth ran up to Liz as she put her shoes back on in the hallway. "Wait for me Liz. I`m coming with you. My dear Richard is probably worried about how he will make it home to me. Oh, poor Richard! Being sent out to get a turkey and possibly coming home to find that I have nowhere proper to serve it!", she boasted as Liz got her shoes on.

"All right. You can come with me. Just please don`t make too much noise.", Liz apprehensively said making Hyacinth stop her worried squeals. As Liz opened the front door slowly, she peered out and said in a whisper, "We can take my car to the town. Might get lucky and find everyone we need."

And with that, Liz and Hyacinth both stepped outside into what could best be described as the start of a warzone. Hyacinth closed the door after herself, polished the handle quickly and followed Liz as she urgently gestured her neighbor to follow.


	3. Keeping Up Appearances- Part 2

When Liz usually left Hyacinths place after tea/coffee and biscuits were served and spilled, she was often relived that the worst part of her day was over. However, when she examined her surroundings now she actually couldn`t believe that she was wishing to herself that she`d rather be invited for tea 100 times more.

As she took cover behind a hedge in the Buckets yard, she witnessed several more drones pass by and thought that she`d definitely get spotted until they vanished down the street. There was also the fact that countless frozen people could be seen levitating towards the sky before vanishing and by the looks of things the whole area seemed it would be wiped clean within hours at the rate the drones were capturing.

Peering out of the hedge once she thought it was safe, Liz saw her car in the driveway less than 20 yards from her yet felt too terrified to move towards it. As she ducked again upon thinking another drone was coming down the street, she heard Hyacinth try to signal her from behind and turned to face her.

Hiding behind the other shrub on the opposite side of the yard, Hyacinth pointed to Liz and then her car before making a series of gestures that involved random punches and stomping with the flailing of the arms. "What?", Liz mouthed to her neighbor in confusion. Annoyed that Liz couldn`t get what she was trying to say (run over to the car and attack anyone on your way), Hyacinth face palmed herself before thinking of trying again when she saw something odd appear down the street and pointed frantically until Liz turned and saw what she saw.

What the two women saw were 4 drones with a different model that appeared to be carrying something glowing a bright yellow color, almost like an orb. As the drones and orb started to get closer and closer, Hyacinth took a deep breath and awkwardly wobbled her way over to Liz, almost catching her by surprise.

"Come Elizabeth. Let's make a run for it the moment these things pass by", Hyacinth told her as the 4 drones were less than ten feet from the women. After that, the duo stayed silent and waited for the foes to pass before they crossed Hyacinths garden (with Hyacinth warning Liz not to step on anything making her panic for a slight moment). As the women reached the wall dividing the Bucket and Warren properties, they both slowly stood up to climb over.

As Liz got across and Hyacinth started to follow, she suddenly heard what sounded like a car in the distance. "Hyacinth, what are you doing?", Liz asked in a panicked whisper as she noticed that the four drones had set their yellow orb down almost in front of the Bucket household and were turning to face the source of the sound, which also was in their possible line of sight of them.

"Wait, that could be Richard or someone important", Hyacinth said foolishly trying to stand up on the wall now to see the distant car, only for her to slip and fall into her garden and she slightly tilted back a bit. Liz stood up in frustration and panic for a second to see Hyacinth before noticing the noise her neighbor made falling suddenly got the four drones attention. "Oh-no", Liz could only say as Hyacinth stood up and wiped some dirt off her blouse.

The second Liz had stood up in her driveway, the occupants of the car driving down the street also spotted her. "Liz! She`s alright!", Emmet Warren (Elizabeth's older brother who`d moved in to her house a long time ago following a messy divorce) exclaimed in shock and relief as he leaned forward in the passenger seat to get a better look.

Richard Bucket, Hyacinths henpecked husband, started to drive towards her quicker when he suddenly noticed the four drones in front of his house were moving towards his neighbor. "Emmet, I hate to ruin your excitement, but I don`t think she`s going to be around much longer if we don`t help her.", he said before seeing Liz quickly help Hyacinth vault over the small wall and run their direction in a frantic panic, the drones moving in on them.

The two women apparently spotted the men as the car neared them. "Oh great, the Bucket woman is still alive. Lord only knows how", Emmet exclaimed unable to disguise his disgust for the person who always sang to him in the most awful of voices and who always made him come over for coffee as he saw her coming for him. He then gave Richard a "no offense" look, which Richard didn`t respond much to.

Richard quickly hit the brakes as the Liz and Hyacinth finally got to the car, basically ramming themselves into it as they frantically tried to open the back door with the handle refusing to budge for some reason. As Emmet leaned back to try to help open the door from his side, Richard noted how close the four drones were advancing on the group and suddenly started to slowly reverse at a steady pace, making everyone`s struggle to open the back door a bit harder.

"Liz! Are you alright!", Emmet yelled to his sister as he ended up losing his balance leaning back and fell face first into the backseat. As Liz fought with the handle while also being accidently shoved a bit by Hyacinth (with her shoving back equally) and keeping an eye on the four steady advancing drones, she exclaimed, "Oh Emmet, it was terrible. Me and Hyacinth were attacked!"

Before Emmet could reply as he lifted himself up, Hyacinth suddenly screamed Richards name. "Yes? What is it Hyacinth?", Richard replied looking at the drones and then behind him to see where he was backing up. "Did you get the turkey for my candlelight supper!? Is it back there?", Hyacinth exclaimed before peering inside quickly to see if the food was back there.

Stunned by the question, Richard exclaimed, "But Hyacinth, I didn`t have time to get the turkey. I had just pulled into the store parking lot when all these things appeared out of nowhere and started to freeze anyone they came across. It was lucky for Emmet that he ran into me as I started to get out of the place. Besides, I think everyone else you invited to tonight's supper may have been captured by the looks of things!", "Oh, the scandal this will bring to this neighbors' social circle! One of my candlelight suppers without a main course! Think of the gossip this will cause!", Hyacinth bemoaned as if she didn`t hear Richard.

The four drones had been going after the car at a steady pace the whole time. As Richard kept trying to frustratingly explain to Hyacinth as to why there was no turkey in the backseat while also making sure he wasn`t backing away too fast or slow, one of them suddenly advanced forward and lifted an arm, materializing what looked like a baton. "Richard! Watch out!", Liz shouted upon seeing the drone aim at him and fire.

 **Prompt:** **Triangle Button**

 **Hit in time-** _Richard quickly tilted his head out of the way as the baton went straight through the windshield and hit the seat instead of its original target. "Bloody hell", Emmet exclaimed as Richard quickly recovered, grabbed the baton and threw it back out through the hole in the windshield. "Guess I still have my good reflexes", he commented._

 **Failed to press-** _Before Richard could duck, the baton ended up going through the windshield and bonked him straight in the head. "Ow!", he yelped rubbing the spot that got hit as the car swerved slightly, making Hyacinth and Liz back away for a moment. "Richard, are you alright?", Emmet exclaimed. "Don`t worry. I`ve dealt with worse headaches before", Richard said as he grabbed the baton and flung it with slight frustration out the window._ **(Richard: -5% health)**

As the stray drone that fired at Richard moved away from the pack and started to advance faster on the car, Liz frantically pulled the handle with all her might and found the car door was still stubbornly stuck. "Come on! What`s with this blasted thing!?", she exclaimed in frustration. "Strange. I had the car cleaned by the best professionals last week", Hyacinth exclaimed. "And the most expensive", Richard added thinking of the bill he got in the mail yesterday before returning to the present and spotting the stray drone advancing faster on the car. He then noticed the drone materialize another baton in its hand and advance towards Liz. "Emmet!", Richard exclaimed pointing to the drone.

Catching on quickly, Emmet grabbed the handle to the passenger door and hoped to himself that he could shield his sister at the right moment. The drone then reached the door, ready to hit its target.

 **Prompt:** **X button**

 **Hit in time-** _Before Liz could get hit however, Emmet flung open the car door and slammed it into the drone, making it stumble back a bit towards its comrades. "Thank you Emmet!", Liz exclaimed in relief as Emmet got out of the car to check if she was alright. "Oh Emmet, that was very brave of you. I think you deserve to be the guest of honor at my next social event", Hyacinth boasted, making Emmet slightly nod as he tried not to let the annoyance ruin his mood._

 **Failed to press-** _Before Emmet could react and swing the door in time, he ended up missing a split second too late and saw his sister get clubbed in the head, knocking her down. As he quickly opened the door and got out with Richard shouting something, he saw Hyacinth step away from the car and slug the drone nearly into him with her fist before helping Liz get up. Reacting quickly, Emmet then shoved the drone back towards its comrades as Liz insisted that she was fine, albeit a bit dizzy from the hit._ **(Elizabeth: -5% health)**

Before Emmet, Liz or Hyacinth could do or say anything else after that, the stray drone suddenly advanced forward again with its target being Emmet this time. "Oh, for crying out loud! Stay away!", Emmet declared to his foe as he raised his fists while Hyacinth and Liz backed away nervously, not wanting to be caught in the fight zone. The drone ended up making its move by throwing a punch.

 **Prompt** : Square Button

 **Hit in time-** To everyone's surprise however, Emmet ended up blocking the punch and hit the drone back, sending it farther towards its companions this time. Liz ended giving her brother a brief round of applause while Hyacinth could only look on in surprise. "How did you do that?", she asked Emmet. "Oh, from practice", Emmet evasively answered while staring at the face he often imagined hitting.

 **Failed to press-** Before Emmet could block the drone, he found himself getting struck in the face. As he tried to recover the drone then hit him again almost knocking him down. Before the third hit could land Hyacinth suddenly ran up and kicked the drone back towards its companions. "Really Emmet, a man of your profession must be more agile than that", she could only say as Emmet got his senses together again. "Great. Saved by the Bucket woman. This day just keeps getting worse and worse", he mumbled. **(Emmet: -5% health)**

To everyone`s horror, the Buckets car suddenly made a funny noise and stopped moving prompting Richard to get out of it quickly. "Great, first the back door and then the engine. Why doesn`t the bloody thing explode if it keeps faltering at our time of need", Emmet exclaimed in frustration as the 4 orb carrying drones moved in on the group. "Maybe we can fight these things off! Hyacinth and I fought one of these things off previously!", Liz frantically exclaimed. "Really? You did? Was it easy?", Emmet exclaimed in disbelief. "Well, it was with Hyacinth, so…", Liz began before she and Emmet glanced over at their neighbor.

Apparently, she ended up brushing past Richard to get into the car. "Richard, do me a favor and hold off these drones while I start the car. I think I have what it takes to get this moving again." Richard glanced at Hyacinth and then the drones in disbelief, which all stopped as if they dared any one of the four humans in front of them to make a move. As Richard nervously moved forward with his fists raised, Hyacinth then called out to Liz, "Come here and help me out Elizabeth. We can come up with victory cheers together while my husband and your brother fight."

Richard approached the drones and struggled to avoid the attacks they all gave at the same time, prompting Emmet to rush to his aid and make the fight more even. Liz found herself glancing at the fight that started between the men and the menacing machines and then at Hyacinth who eagerly gestured for her to come in the car as she started to give loud cheers that made Liz feel jumpy on the inside. "Sorry Hyacinth. Emmet needs my help!", she declared rushing to the less scary option before Hyacinth could say or do anything that would make her change her mind.

Hyacinth watched the fight for a moment before struggling with the motor as much as she could while shouting random nods of encouragement to her companions. "Come on! You can do it! Show them what the members of this high class area can do!", she hamishly shouted.

 **Fight 1-2:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Emmet**

 **-Richard**

 **-Elizabeth**

 _ **Opponent**_ _:_

 **4 carrier drones**

After the fight:

As soon as the last fighter hit the ground Emmet, Liz and Richard immediately let their guard down and started panting with exhaustion, glad that their ordeal was over for the moment. "That was close", Richard finally said after he found his voice.

"Liz, are you alright?", Emmet asked his sister. "Quite alright, though barely. Me and Hyacinth were attacked earlier when I went over for tea…Did you mention something about these things showing up downtown?", Liz questioned.

"Yes, it was the most frightening experience in my life (almost as frightening as the day I met that she-devil next door)", Emmet replied as he gazed at Hyacinth in annoyance. Behind him, Hyacinth managed to start the car as she signaled Richard to come over and insist that he listen to the engine despite everything going on around them.

Continuing, Emmet said, "It all happened out of nowhere. There was a loud noise in the sky followed by these enemies popping up and freezing everyone before making them vanish. I nearly got hit a few times before I ran into Richard."

"The same thing happened here. Those weapons we fought also placed something in front of Hyacinths house", Liz exclaimed gesturing to the mysterious orb the 4 carrier drones had set down. At the mention of this, everyone suddenly stopped talking and looked at where Liz was pointing. Curious, the group of four slowly started to approach the orb to see what it was (with Richard and Hyacinth in the car and Liz and Emmet on foot).

The moment they reached the mystery orb, Emmet could have sworn it looked like something out of a sci-fi story. The thing was practically floating in mid-air and was emitting a strange sort of static that kept appear and disappearing at random areas. Getting out of the car, Richard and Hyicant both stood next to Liz and Emmet and stared at the orb for a moment. "What could this be? Some sort of signaling device?", Liz asked baffled. "It sure is peculiar", Richard stated before he picked up a nearby stick to gently poke it. The second the stick made contact with the orb the branch caught on fire sending him stumbling back.

"Wait a moment, I think I see something on the side of it", Emmet suddenly exclaimed, noting something moving from within inside. Before anyone could do anything, the phone suddenly rang inside the Bucket household, triggering a natural instinct in Hyacinth.

"The phone! It survived the damage to our house. And it could be Sheridan, calling his mum to find comfort in times of distress…or maybe my sister Violet. You know, the one with the Mercedes, sauna and room for a pony. Whatever it is, I`d better answer!", she exclaimed before running off. "Hyacinth, wait! It could be dangerous!", Richard called going after her.

"Poor Richard. The rapture has presumably taken place and he somehow still has to deal with her. If anyone deserves an easy moment in times like these, its him", Emmet commented empathetically as he watched Richard follow Hyacinth into his house before re-examining the mystery spot on the orb. At first, it looked like a set of odd symbols that kept changing by the second. However, as he looked more closely at the set of writing, he noticed they were all numbers, numbers that were slowly counting down.

A realization suddenly hit Emmet and made him stumble back in fear. "Emmet? What`s wrong?", Liz asked concerned. "Liz, this isn`t an orb. It`s a bomb. A bomb set to go off in under an hour!"

Inside the Bucket household, Hyacinth managed to pick up the phone on its last ring and answered the call with a boastful, "The Bouquet residence; the lady of the house speaking" while Richard stopped behind her, examining the damage to the house in dread.

As Richard slowly started to walk around the house and see what was still intact, Hyacinth continued to talk on the phone. "Oh, it`s you Daisy…what is that?...Daddy, in trouble…what kind of trouble?...Yes, me and Richard will come over right away." The moment she hung up, Richard reentered the hallway.

"Richard, my sister Daisy just called to inform me that my dear sweet Daddy has gotten himself into mischief again. Oh the folly of the old age. As if life weren't so cruel enough without the events going on outside!", "Hyacinth, is it wise to go out when all that anarchy is taking place? I know they`re your family but it might be suicide driving straight to their house. What if we run into more of those things?", Richard exclaimed the second he realized where things were going: Hyacinths father (everyone called him Daddy) who lived with his daughters Daisy and Rose and in-law Onslow had presumably had a flashback from his World War II days and had gone off to fight dressed in uniform or had run off for an attractive woman. This often had him and his wife go over to try and solve the problem, though Hyacinth didn`t want anyone to notice her connection to the rest of the family, as they couldn`t care less about being high class.

As Hyacinth hung up the phone and went outside, Richard could tell that he once again lost another battle of reason and reluctantly followed her into danger. There, Liz had begun to approach Hyacinth while exclaiming, "Hyacinth, we`re in more danger than you realize. The orb…", she began to explain in a panic.

"Not now Elizabeth. My daddy needs me! Oh, poor Daddy. Out there trying to channel his heroic days as a war veteran to help aid a modern crisis!", Hyacinth exclaimed before heading for her car with Richard walking up to her and said, "Do you need a ride somewhere? Seems that even in a "War of the Worlds" situation it`s business as usual for Hyacinth."

Liz`s eyes suddenly lit up. "My daughter Gayle. I almost forgot amid the fighting. Emmet, come on. We have to get to her house right away!"

Emmet, who was still studying the strange orb, suddenly walked away while saying, "Right, we can take our car. Lord help us if we have to ride with the Bucket woman for the whole drive over." As he and Liz started to move for their car while Richard ran for his (as Hyacinth already climbed into the passenger seat and gestured for him to come over impatiently), a stray ice blast suddenly came out of nowhere and froze Liz`s car into an ice cube. This made Richard, Liz and Emmet stop and stare for a moment before they looked and saw a dozen freeze drones emerge from across the street getting ready to fire at them.

"Emmet! Liz! Come with us! Hurry!", Richard shouted evading a few blasts as he got into his car. As Liz grabbed Emmet and started to drag him for the Buckets car, Emmet exclaimed with dread, "Do we really have no other options to get to Gayle's? You know that Bucket lady. She`ll sing to me."

"Not now Emmet", Liz could only reply as she and her brother got to the car. Trying the other rear door, the duo got in successfully and slammed it as Richard sped down the street. "Mind your speed dear", Hyacinth instructed Richard. "Minding my speed", Richard replied, though instead of slowing down the car as Hyacinth wanted he found himself driving faster. The drones kept firing at the car and kept missing until the four humans were out of range. After that, they went their own ways looking for more victims to freeze.

After a few minutes of driving down what looked like a chaos torn city with patches of ice and stray drones just about everywhere (with Richard miraculously making his way through them and missing any occasional attack thrown at him) Liz suddenly asked Richard, "Where do we go first, my daughters house or your relatives?"

"Gayle's place sounds like a good idea. Your daughter needs her mom and uncle at a time like this", Hyacinth quickly answered before Richard could reply.

As Liz and Emmet then turned their attention back to the chaos taking place outside, Richard whispered to his wife, "Why are we going to Gayle`s house first? Isn`t your relatives place closer?", "Richard, I will not let the neighbors see that my relatives live in a rundown establishment they dare call a house. Even if it is my last day on Earth I won`t let my efforts of marinating an upper class image fall apart."

"That I can believe. I really do", Richard replied before returning his full focus on the road with Hyacinth returning to "instructing" him on what to mind as he made his way through danger.

Far behind the group of four, the mysterious orb continued its countdown; making its way to zero in a set of ominous beeps as every second passed.


	4. Keeping Up Appearances- Part 3

The place where Hyacinths in-laws lived was eerily calm outside, though by the way things looked there was plenty of chaos everywhere earlier. Patches of ice coated the road and many personal mementos from the captured victims (ranging from purses to jackets) remained behind as 8 drones hovered down the street, all of them looking for newer victims to make into ice sculptures. As many more already frozen victims went into the sky and vanished and the group of foes left the area to search the next block, one houses curtains near the front door suddenly moved aside.

Peering through the window was a plump woman named Daisy who was Hyacinths younger sister. For her, things had gotten intense in the house within the last hour and she seemed to experience the most of it. First, while her husband Onslow slept in and her younger sister Rose preoccupied herself with choosing something to wear for a date she had for later today ("I just know he`ll be the one!", she boasted to her earlier) there were ominous noises outside. When Daisy looked out to see what the fuss was about she ended up witnessing everyone else from the area get frozen by the drones and then vanish in the air, much to her horror.

She tried to warn Onslow and Rose about the events outside, but Onslow wasn`t in the mood to get out of bed at the moment. "Probably making a science fiction movie I`ll eventually see on the telly", he told his wife before turning over and snoozing. When Rose got the news she only panicked and hid under her bed. "I`ll die! Unloved, without a man and as a virgin!", she declared, though Daisy knew the virgin part was a total lie.

Knowing her dad was also useless as he locked his door and refused to open it despite her pounding and pleading, Daisy felt she had to get safety in numbers somehow. Picking up the phone in the living room, she managed to contact Hyicant as a few explosions went off outside. Onslow managed to sleep through the noise as Daisy informed her sister that their Daddy was in trouble again, knowing she`d come even with the risks of the war zone outside and the possible damage her "well liked" social reputation could face.

After Hyicant assured her that she and Richard would come over, Daisy hung up and soon paced around the messy room, worrying that she made the wrong call in tricking her relatives to come over with all the danger out there.

As things quickly quieted down outside ten minutes later and Daisy peered out to see if her sister and in-law were coming, she ended up getting a jump scare from behind when Onslow entered the room dressed in his usual attire of an under shirt, faded blue jeans and a trucker hat and stepped on an empty beer can.

Onslow sat in his faded but comfy armchair for some TV watching when Daisy ran up to him and exclaimed, "Onslow, did you see what`s happening outside? It`s like one of those end of the world stories, but worse.", "Oh, nice. Hope something good will still air today", Onslow nonchalantly replied as he leaned over and smacked the top of the TV set, turning it on. While he tried to find something on besides static and emergency broadcasts, Daisy leaned close to him and said in a flirty tone, "You know Onslow, we might not live to see tomorrow. Better make our last day on Earth count." Indifferently, Onslow replied, "If this is my last day on Earth, I`d like to do what I always do every day. Makes me feel like I`ll die happy. All I need is a beer and the right channel and I`ll be all set. Fetch one for me will you?" Daisy could only sigh in frustration at another failed attempt at romance and went to the kitchen to get him and herself a drink. As she was getting the drinks, she ended up having no idea what her father was doing upstairs at that moment.

Upstairs, Daddy had gotten into war mode the moment he saw the attacks taking place. He spent a lot of time hopping around trying to get his World War II uniform on and ended up knocking almost everything in his room in the process while muffled voices of his family could be heard from downstairs. After he got the last button buttoned and the last zipper zipped, he started looking around for his trusty war riffle to use against the enemy (unaware that Onslow confiscated it a few weeks back after another incident) when he suddenly heard a loud shriek outside.

Daddy ran up to his window and flung it open before peering outside with some binoculars he left on the window sill. Quickly, he spotted the source of the sound and realized it was a young 20-something woman being chased by two drones who fired rapidly at her. The moment Daddy saw how cute she looked in her skirt, he got excited and tossed the binoculars aside. Grabbing his bedsheet, he made a makeshift cape to wear before he climbed over the window ledge and began to go down the house via. the storm gutter with as much gusto as an 80 plus year old man could muster. He was determined to save the girl and win her heart and felt nothing could go wrong with the rescue mission.

Downstairs, Daisy returned from the kitchen with a beer as Onslow finally found a channel that wasn`t affected by the chaos outside and tuned in.

"Here", Daisy replied handing Onslow his drink. As Onslow happily opened it, Rose finally came into the room scantily dressed as ever and exclaimed, "How do I look?", "Charming", Onslow replied with disinterest before taping a sip of his drink while his wife sat on the nearby couch to read her romance novel of the week. "Onslow! You didn`t even look at me! This is the last thing I might wear for my life and the last thing my man might see me in before he goes as well!", Rose declared.

"Who are you seeing anyway?", Daisy asked as she opened her book, though her attention was more on the window across the room. "His name is Michael and he`s the postman at our Hyacinths. And for a father of seven he`s very passionate I might add", Rose boasted. As he leaned forward to adjust the TV signal by slapping the side of it, Onslow replied in a joking tone, "Must be desperate if he has seven kids and frequently encounters our Hyacinth.", "Oh bug off Onslow! He`ll come to the ends of the Earth just to see me. I know he will!", Rose retorted passionately.

Before the trio could say or do anything after that, they suddenly heard what sounded like a scream followed by a loud crash outside. Daisy and Rose sprinted to the window as Onslow stood up glum; his TV screen was fully encased in static like every other channel. The two women gasped when they saw their dad slowly get up from a small pile of gutter pieces on the front lawn before he then headed off down the street towards the lady and two drones, charging at them surprisingly quickly. "Daddy! No!", Rose yelled as she and Daisy sprinted towards the front door with Onslow following from behind, his beer still in his hand.

The woman being chased outside saw Daddy halfway to her as Daisy, Rose and Onslow got outside. "Help! Oh God! Help!", she yelled as she ducked another attack and went for Daddy (much to the old mans glee). As he and his family made their way out onto the street and stopped to witness the scenario, Onslow examined his surroundings and exclaimed in mild surprise, "Well, it sure looks like a real invasion", before sipping his beer.

One of the drones chasing and firing at the woman suddenly noticed Onslow and stopped to aim at him instead. "Onslow! Look out!", Rose exclaimed as she and Daisy basically vaulted over their fence to take cover behind the property line shrub. Onslow could only look on in shock for a moment as he saw what looked like a beam of ice flying towards his head.

 **Prompt** **: X button**

 **Hit in time:** _Luckily for him though, Onslow managed to evade in time by diving to the ground; the beam of ice sailing over him and hitting the side of his house. However, as he quickly got up, Onslow looked horrified and then enraged as he saw his beer bottle roll away from his down the street a bit, spilling out all the liquid._

 **Missed:** _Before Onslow could duck however, the ice beam hit him in the head and sent him falling flat on his back while his beer flew from his grip and ended up hitting the fence in front of his house, shattering it. "Onslow! Are you alright!", Daisy exclaimed from her cover as her husband quickly stood up and brushed the frost off him. "All right?! That thing spilled me beer!", Onslow replied with hostility he rarely showed_. (Onslow: -5% health)

During the moment Onslow got back on his feet, it looked like the frantic woman was about to reach Daddy with the latter's arms wide open. It looked like Daddy would literally get the girl and the scene almost felt like slow motion. Then, at the last possible second, the other drone still firing at her hit the woman in the back and froze her entirely. As Daddy stopped and looked on in shock, the two drones then aimed at the old man next. "Don`t!", Rose frantically yelled before she and Daisy attempted to get up from cover and rush to their father's aid. However, Rose found herself stumble and slam into Daisy, knocking the duo down again. As she struggled to get up, Rose glanced behind her and saw that her foot was entangled in a root from the hedge that had stuck out in the ground.

Looking up, she hollered at her sister and Onslow, "Help Daddy! I`ll get myself out!", before tugging relentlessly at the root. Without hesitating, Onslow and Daisy marched quickly towards the two drones while their father (not intending to leave the frozen woman behind) skittered back and forth near her evading the ice blasts.

A shout from Daisy helped turn the drone's attention from Daddy to her and Onslow. As Daddy grabbed the woman by the arm and began to drag her away off to the side, the two drones fired one shot each at the couple approaching them. As Daisy evaded and nearly hit the ground, Onslow didn`t hesitate as the blast going towards him got closer.

 **Prompt** **: Circle button**

 **Hit in time:** _Without missing a beat, Onslow simply tilted his head to the side and easily avoided the blast as he kept moving closer to the drone that fired angry as ever._

 **Missed:** _The blast hit Onslow in the chest and for a moment it looked like he would fall back. However, to Rose and Daisy`s surprise, he recovered quickly and wiped the ice off his undershirt as if it were nothing before he kept marching angrily for the drone._ (Onslow: -5% health)

"Oy! Tin heads! You think you can ruin me television watching and spill my beer and get away with it?", Onslow shouted at the drones (as their ice canons started to quickly recharge from too much blasting) as Daisy ran up to him and hid behind him while also trying to hug him for comfort. At that moment, Daddy also scampered back into the street with the woman placed on the sidewalk, her frozen look of horror watching the events from a safe distance.

As the drones slowly raised their arms and prepared to fire and attack, Onslow raised his own fists and declared, "Bring it on!", "That`s the spirit Onslow! Me and Daddy got your back. We`ll be the perfect defense this neighborhood has ever seen!", Daisy suddenly said stepping out from behind Onslow, her fists also raised as she felt some encouragement in Onslow spread to her.

What Daisy said suddenly made Onslow look confused for a moment. He glanced at his out of shape wife and his in-law, who had half of his gaze on the woman instead of on the danger. "Us being an example of neighborhood defense? Aw, nice", he exclaimed in disbelief. "Oh bug off and fight Onslow! Fight!", Rose declared from the house as she still fought to free her stuck foot. As Onslow then stepped forward ready to throw some punches, the two drones also made their move with their attacks.

 **Fight 1-3:**

 _ **Fighter to select:**_

 **-Onslow**

 **-Daisy**

 **-Daddy**

 _ **Opponent:**_

 _ **2 freeze drones**_

After the fight:

For a few moments Onslow, Daisy and Daddy didn`t move as both defeated drones tilted back and shattered upon hitting the ground. Then, Daddy broke the silence by letting out a loud, excited cheer before running over to the lady and doing a victory dance next to her (thinking in his senile mind that she wasn`t frozen anymore and was dancing excitedly with him). As Daddy did his dance, Onslow found himself being passionately hugged by Daisy really tight. "Oh Onslow, I didn`t know you were quite the fighter. It really makes you such a bold and dashing hero", she said lustfully. Onslow only replied, "Do we have any more beer in the house?", nonchalantly, making Daisy stop her hug in frustration.

A loud snap was suddenly heard behind the duo, making them turn to see Rose stumble back out onto the street finally free of the root. The moment she came over and saw the defeated drones she let out a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "I honestly feared the three of you wouldn`t win. I truly would have been alone for the first time in my life.", "Settle down Rose. I`m sure a woman of your passion could never be alone for too long, even in times like these", Daisy replied trying to comfort her sister while Daddy began to do a tango dance with the frozen woman behind them.

The comment made to sooth Rose only made her more worried instead. As she glanced around, Rose bemoaned, "I wish my true love Michael were here. He would have helped us, and especially me, get through this. Oh, how scared he must be; out there alone and in a world of danger!"

"Hello? Are you friendly?", a voice called from the other end of the street. Onslow, Rose and Daisy all looked up to see a man steadily running towards them with his expression looking as if he`d been through a lot of hell. The moment she recognized who it was, Rose got very excited. "Michael!", she declared sprinting for him with her arms wide open. "Rose! Is it you?!", Michael exclaimed in disbelief as he ran up to Rose and embraced with her. "Yes it is my love! I always knew you`d come for me in my darkest hour! I always knew!", Rose declared as Onslow and Daisy watched awkwardly. "You know, if this guy could get me a beer I`d be happy to see him to", Onslow commented as Rose and Michael continued their embrace while Daddy and the frozen woman continued in their dance.

"If our Hyacinth could get here, I`d be happy. I wonder where she is right now", Daisy pondered as she hoped more than ever that her sister was okay.


	5. Keeping Up Appearances- Part 4

About a block away Richard kept driving with Hyacinth instructing him as usual to mind anything that they passed, whether it be on the road or not. "Mind that pothole Richard.", "Minding the pothole.", "Watch out for that overturned car on the sidewalk.", "Watching out for the car."

In the cars backseat, Emmet couldn`t help but shake his head in disbelief as he observed the ritual with his sister. "How he drives this long without going mad I`ll never know. If it were me behind the wheel I`d had strangled the Bucket woman by now", he commented, earning Liz a slight look at the mention of violence.

As Emmet continued to observe Hyacinth instruct Richard, he noted that she looked more nervous than he did and thought it was attributed to everything taking place outside. That was not the case however as Richard neared his relatives place. Hyacinth had hoped the Liz and Emmet would be dropped off at Gayle's place so it would guarantee they wouldn`t have to see the rest of her family's rundown home. However, Gayle`s place had been abandoned by the time Richard arrived and after searching the area for five minutes Liz and Emmet reluctantly returned to the car.

When Richard offered them a lift to his and Hyacinths destination, Hyacinth tried to persuade Richard to go to Violets instead. "You could see the Mercedes, sauna and room for a pony", she exclaimed trying not to sound so frantic. "But Hyacinth, Onslow`s place is much closer than Violets and I don`t like the idea of being out in the open like this for too long", Richard countered noting drones and rioters in every direction he looked at a distance. Before Hyacinth could insist that Richard drive to Violets, Liz agreed with Richard on the idea to go to Onslow`s place with Emmet seconding the idea.

Now, Hyacinth was trying to come up with something to say when her neighbors saw the sad excuse of an establishment that her family lived in. "You know, I`m sure my sisters would come this way in the event of an emergency. Barely anyone lives here", she stated as Richard was only a block away from the house. "Really? Seems to be a bit far from home", Liz commented as she privately noted a time when she gave Hyacinth a lift to her relative's place at a different block (not knowing it wasn't her relatives real house and that she had went to sort out another crazy antic her father had gotten himself into). "Yes, well…they are quite athletic", Hyacinth stated off the top of her head before resuming her advice giving to Richard.

"Mind that knocked over tree", "But it`s not even on our side of the lane", Richard pointed out as he approached said tree. "You know Hyacinth, I`m sure that Richard can handle his own driving", Emmet suddenly said in the calmest tone he could muster, causing Liz to shake her head with pity and Richard to eye Emmet worryingly. He was starting to push Hyacinths buttons as it looked like she swallowed a lemon.

Outside and behind the fallen tree, a stray drone had hovered by looking for new targets and had drifted into the path of Richards car. Hyacinth was the first to notice as she took her mind off of lecturing Emmet for his "rudeness" and shouted at Richard to mind the drone as loud as she could. Richard attempted to swerve out of the way but instead ended up ramming into the drone. As the drone flew back with sparks flying from its now messed up circuits, the car spun in circles down the road. Emmet and Liz hugged each other in fear and screamed while Hyacinth grabbed onto Richards arm and yelled at him to get the car steady again, making Richard more distracted as he tried to focus on not crashing into anything.

What happened next after Rose and Michael had reunited was so fast that no one could tell what happened completely.

From Roses perspective, she heard what sounded like a car crash and looked away from the love of her life just in time to see said car spin into view. Michael suddenly backed away from the Rose in alarm as she heard her sister scream something. "No! It can`t be! The Bucket woman!", Michael said in horror recognizing his most annoying customer on his route before he turned and sprinted away, not wanting to hear a ridiculous question from Hyacinth at a time like this. Before Rose could react to her lover's behavior, she suddenly witnessed him get frozen solid and nearly fainted from shock.

From Daisy's perspective, she also heard the car crash but the moment she looked up she saw the drone that the car had hit zigzagging towards her and her group while firing its ice canons randomly all over the place. As a blast landed less than five yards from her feet and froze the ground close to her, she yelled, "Onslow! Rose! Daddy! Watch out!" and started to run for any cover she could find as the drone got closer. As she went behind a mailbox (the best thing she could immediately find) she heard both Michael and Onslow give off a funny noise before peering at them and noting that Michael was completely frozen while Onslow's legs were all coated in ice.

From Onslow's perspective, he was trying to think about what could be causing the events to take place around him in a logical sense (such as something very complex in the form of a scientific theory) when he heard the car and looked up from his mostly sober state of mind. As he looked up, he was shocked to see his in-law's car spin by down the road from him followed by a drone. As his wife ran past him, he watched the car vanish across the corner before he spotted Michael get frozen by the stray drone that was moving towards him. Another blast from the scrambled system managed to hit him in the legs as her turned to follow his wife's lead, leaving him stuck in place and at the mercy of everything else taking place.

From Daddy's perspective, he and his new girlfriend were having a good time on a date night out (despite the fact that it wasn't even close to the evening yet) and enjoying some fun activities taking place just for them when the drone that froze Michael and Onslow sped by, nearly hitting Rose and Onslow as it ended up grabbing Michael and the lady. As soon as the apparent love of his life was snatched from him, Daddy looked around in shock and saw Daisy run towards Onslow while Rose fell to her knees and started to cry in despair. Not wanting to let the villain get away, Daddy took a deep breath and pumped up his chest before he sprinted for his house with a crazy idea in mind.

Daisy struggled with all her might as she tried to pull Onslow free from his icy leg restraints as Onslow helped out by tugging with all his might as well. Both their efforts resulted in barely a crack forming. Glancing behind her Daisy called desperately to her sister, "Rose, come over here and help free him! You`ve got a nail file in your pocket or something that can help?" Rose didn`t reply to Daisy as she just stared down the street where she watched the drone turn the other corner and vanish out of sight with Michael.

She wanted to run after him but the fear of what else was out there terrified her too much. She didn`t want to get herself frozen trying to save her date, despite her instincts screaming at her to move. Suddenly, the sound of a bike bell ringing snapped her back to reality and also got Onslow and Daisy`s attention as well. "What in bloody hell…?", Onslow exclaimed in disbelief as he saw Daddy ride out from the front lawn and onto the street on his old bike, going in the direction the drone went.

Running up to Daisy and Onslow, Rose exclaimed, "What is he doing?", "Probably going after his woman and the date that ran off on you. Now can you get me out of this ice? Me legs are getting more numb by the second!", Onslow stated as he and Daisy resumed the task of trying to free him. "My date didn`t run off Onslow. That…thing took him away! Whatever swooped in and attacked!", Rose defensively declared as she dug in her pockets to find anything useful to help her sister. Letting out a chuckle, Onslow replied, "Sounds like half your dating life in a nutshell" as Rose finally found a pair of nail files and handed one to her sister. After telling Onslow to bug off and starting to work on freeing her in-law, Rose then glanced down the street and asked Daisy worriedly, "Do you think that Daddy can handle the rescue mission? I don`t want to think about what will happened if he fails", "Just free Onslow and then we can go after him and help", Daisy only replied chipping away a huge chunk of ice near Onslow's feet.

After spending a minute biking down the street, Daddy began to feel tired and yearned to just fall asleep at any random spot (as he had done more than once in the past). However, that all changed when he turned another street corner and spotted the malfunctioned drone that had both Michael and the lady stuck to it. The sight of the pretty lady made Daddy feel energetic as he became more awake and peddled faster. Noting that the drone was slamming into a lot of things and causing some damage, Daddy leaned forward to grab a stray pipe that lay on the sidewalk before attempting to move closer and damage his foe. The confidence he felt made him certain that he could win.

 **(Authors note: At this part of the story, a mini-game appears with a different set of controls to match the scenario and an objective. Once the listed objective is cleared, the story will continue. Picture the set up as the start of a Mario Party game.)**

 **Mini-game #1:** _ **Daddy vs. the Drone**_

 _ **Objective:**_ _ **Daddy`s goal is to get close to the drone while pedaling his bike and hit it enough times with the pipe to destroy it. As he`s doing so, he must evade all attacks from the robot as well as any obstacles on the road. Getting hit by them will cost Daddy some health and if he gets too much damage the player will have to restart the level.**_

 _ **Controls:**_

 _ **-L stick: Move Daddy left, right, up and down**_

 _ **-X button: Swing pipe**_

 _ **Advice:**_

 **-** _ **If the drone starts turning red when Daddy is close to it, it means it's about to let out an attack. Moving back to avoid the blast zone is the only way to get no damage.**_

 _ **-The things to watch out for are ice patches, fallen tree branches, abandoned cars, ice blasts from the drone (both close and far) and potholes.**_

 _ **-Daddy has a stamina meter next to the health bar. The stamina drains a bit every time Daddy swings his pipe and takes a moment to recover it. During low stamina periods, moving Daddy in any direction is a bit slower so timing the swings are critical.**_

After the mini-game is completed:

As Daddy swung the final blow, he moved away as the drone dropped Michael and the lady and erupted into a burst of static. It became obvious though that Daddy did not move away far enough as said eruption sent him flying back into another bush with his bike while Michael and the lady suddenly rose into the sky and vanished; the blast making them bounce high enough to levitate like the other frozen victims.

While Daddy struggled to get out of the bush (mostly by kicking his legs in the air), a nearly freed Onslow looked up in bafflement and exclaimed, "You hear that? Sounded pretty close", "Maybe that was from Daddy saving Michael!", Rose eagerly exclaimed. Before Onslow could reply, he and the women all heard a car suddenly drive up to them and looked nervously, expecting the worse.

Daisy got a better look at the car as it neared them and exclaimed, "Looks like Hyacinths car, though more banged up than she`d like." Onslow let out a grunt and with a final attempt managed to break out of his icy restraints, nearly toppling over in the process as the car stopped close to the trio. To the trio's relief the people who emerged from the car were Richard, Emmet, Liz and Hyacinth; all of them a bit shaken but mostly looking fine.

"Daisy and Rose! How lovely to see you both. I can`t believe that you managed to run all this way far from the comforts of your home", Hyacinth immediately boasted running over to hug her sisters while warily eyeing their nearby home and hoping her neighbors wouldn`t actually recognize it as their real residence.

Noticing Onslow limp a bit, Liz walked over to him and asked if he was alright. As Onslow shrugged off what happened to him and insisted that he`d be fine soon enough, Emmet looked around with more concern that Hyacinth and asked, "Is this a good place for shelter against a bomb? The one in front of your in-laws house looks like it can reach a far radius".

"Bomb? What bomb?", Daisy asked as everyone looked at Emmet with some degree of panic on their face. "Some of those things that have been attacking everyone planted this strange weapon orb in front of our house. From what I noticed, it was the most peculiar thing yet. It doesn`t look like anything of this world", Richard explained as he looked at the drones that his in-laws had defeated earlier and notice a pair of arms were glowing blue at the edges. "Like Hyacinths singing for instance", Emmet couldn't help but comment under his breath about Richards description before Hyacinth then faced him.

"Something the matter Emmet? I didn`t hear you", "Nothing, just thinking that it might be a good idea to get another car so we can all drive far away from your house, seeing as there`s not enough room in your ride. Preferably, Liz and I in the other car and you in yours", Emmet commented, happy his remark towards Hyacinths voice went over her head. "Brilliant idea Emmet. How about one of us look around here for a working car while the rest of us…", Hyacinth began when the sound of a blasting noise made her and everyone else jump.

Apparently, Richard had leaned over and picked up one of the severed drone arms out of curiosity, accidently triggering something within that fired an icy blast in the air. "Richard? What are you doing?", Hyacinth managed to exclaim as she calmed down. "I noticed these things were working and thought we could use these as some kind of weapon against the invaders", Richard explained a little sheepishly as he nodded to both drone arms.

As Onslow stepped forward and curiously examined them, he gave off a nod and replied, "Good idea. But first, let's get us that second car. Last thing I want is to get a sponge bath from the fallout if we didn`t get far enough", which prompted Daisy to hug him a bit while saying in a dirty tone, "I wouldn`t mind having to give you a sponge bath you big lug".

Upon hearing this, Hyacinth tried to get her neighbors mind off the comment by boasting, "Tell you what, why don`t you two and Rose go find that working car in that dilapidated building over there while Richard, Elizabeth, Emmet and I guard my car", while grabbing both Onslow and Daisy by the arm and pushing them a bit towards their house. Getting the message, Onslow exclaimed in a sarcastic tone, "Oh nice. Well Daisy, we`d best be careful for anything dangerous there. You know, like someone with an overpriced fashion sense", before laughing at his own joke. Onslow and Daisy then began to head for their house to get their old car while Hyacinth went back to the others, making an annoyed face about the joke against her.

When Hyacinth returned to the others, she noticed both Liz and Rose were holding the drone arms and were carefully examining them with the two men looking on curiously. Emmet could be heard muttering to himself, "Perhaps we can alter them to fire something else", before Hyacinth cleared her throat and got everyone`s attention. This made Liz yelp and drop the drone arm she was holding. Ignoring this, Hyacinth stated, "Well, Onslow and Daisy ought to be back with the car soon enough. Rose, why don`t you go and help them while I keep the rest of the company entertained?", as Liz picked up the drone arm she dropped and slid it in the Buckets car.

Not wanting to be around Hyacinth, Emmet exclaimed, "You know, I was the real eagle eyed scout back in my youth. Perhaps Liz and I can help Onslow find another car around here", "No, no, no, no, no. After all the effort you put back home I think you deserve a rest", Hyacinth stated, making Rose stand up with her own drone arm while stating, "Hey, why should I risk my life to find a car while Emmet here has to stay? I`ve lost the love of my life today in an act of cruelty!", "You lost your date? How unfortunate. What happened?", Hyacinth asked trying to keep the conversation of how many men Rose dated and slept with out of thought amid everyone.

At that question, Rose suddenly became serious in tone for a moment and stated, "Funny regarding the circumstances. He would have stood by my side amid all that has happened when something spooked him enough to run", before the sound of an engine took everyone's attention away from her. A 1978 Ford Cortina that clearly saw better days had pulled up close and Daisy got out while Onslow remained behind the wheel. "Well, we got two rides. Now we can all make it to safety. How much time do we have to get away Emmet?", Daisy asked.

As Emmet began to explain how much time he thought the group had while also stating quickly which way he thought was the safest out of town, Rose walked over to Onslow's car and got in with the drone's arm, sitting in the backseat. Looking at everyone outside for a moment and then at his sister in-law, Onslow noted the bitter look on Rose`s face and became startled. He`d never seen her this bitter before and this came from someone who wailed at every breakup she had. "Rose, what`s wrong?", "Oh, nothing", Rose replied looking away from everyone bitterly.

Before Onslow could do or say anything else to Rose, a blast of ice nearly hit the car snapping him and everyone else's attention down the street. The moment the source of the attack was identified, it caused a wave of panic to form within the group. In front of them was a mob of over 300 drones, all of them moving towards them and preparing to unleash a lot of ice. Before Onslow could comment with a "Bloody hell…", the five outside all scrambled for one of the two cars, not aware which one they unconsciously went to.

In the process, Hyacinth and Emmet ended up getting into Onslow`s car as Onslow threw the gears into reverse and started to move back while Richard, Liz and Daisy all got into the other car, all of them narrowly getting frozen in the process. Simultaneously, Richard and Onslow managed to drive their cars straight down the block and to a main road while the metal army steadily went after them with no intent to give up freezing the seven easily.


	6. Keeping Up Appearances- Part 5

Both Richard and Onslow`s cars sped down the streets of England as the drone army continued its pursuit of them while firing many rounds of icy blasts and quickly reloading to fire some more, their ammo supply apparently limitless.

In Richard's car, Liz and Daisy looked from the backseat at the robot mob chasing them while Richard bit his lip and tried not to swerve off road every time he made a sharp turn. Glancing over at the woman next to her, Liz exclaimed in panic, "It seems like they`re getting closer by the minute. We`ll be nothing but an ice cube at this rate", "I wish Onslow were here with me. I could really use my dashing and bold man at a time like this", Daisy replied before turning her attention to the car next to theirs, which was slightly behind the one she was in. To her surprise she saw Hyacinth stick her head out and shout to her husband over the noise outside, "Mind the turn ahead Richard!", "Minding the turn", Richard told himself in a more indoor tone, as Hyacinths voice managed to top the other sounds he heard.

As Hyacinth continued to lean out the window to shout her advice to Richard, she felt a hand grab her by the shoulder and drag her back inside. "What are you doing? You`ll get yourself frozen by the invaders", Rose exclaimed to her. "I was just letting my husband know what to look out for up ahead. Can`t be too careful at a time like this. Onslow, can you make this car any less bumpy?", Hyacinth asked her in-law up front as he seemed to be driving casually despite his car moving at top speed.

While the car did bump a bit at any unevenness in the road, Onslow didn`t seem to care and replied, "If I slow down, we`ll get captured. Besides, the faster I get us out of the area the faster it means that we won`t be killed by the alien weapon", "Come along Onslow, surely you can…", Hyacinth began to state as she leaned forward to grab the steering wheel, only for the back window shattering via. a successful drone hit forcing her to move back and duck behind the safety of her seat. "Hyacinth, don`t you grab the wheel while I`m driving. I know what I`m doing", Onslow told her, only to get a shameful headshake from Emmet. "From my own experience it`ll be a waste of time trying to tell the Bucket woman anything that makes sense", he replied. Nodding his head in agreement, Onslow stated, "I know what you mean. Why she`s being ungrateful that I`m giving her a lift I`ll never know" before driving over a big branch on the road and causing the car to make everyone nearly jump off their seats. Hyacinth replied with a panicked squawk and then pester Rose if her head was injured in any way. Trying and failing to cancel any squabble out of his head yet failing, Emmet bitterly stated, "Why I can`t enjoy a moment of peace at the end of the world I`ll never understand."

In the backseat, Rose noted a few of the drones were starting to move in on the car and had a really good chance of hitting her. Looking around worriedly, she managed to lift up the drone arm she took with her into the car and recalling how Richard made it fire a shot took aim. As Hyacinth asked Rose what she was doing playing around with the piece of scrap, she managed to fire by strongly tapping a sensitive spot on the arm. Her shot hit a drone squarely in the head and sent it flying back where it exploded in the background. Rose then took aim at the other drones that got too close to the car and fired at them as well, each of them meeting the same fate at the first drone.

Looking back impressed, Onslow exclaimed, "All right Rose. Keep doing what you`re doing. Maybe we can get rid of that whole mob of attackers with your idea", as Richards car sped up a bit and drove in front of him. "Oh, I sure will Onslow! Those drones took my Michael from me forever, meaning I`ll probably end up with Emmet after this is all over", Rose declared before getting into position while Emmet looked like he had no idea how to react to the second part of the statement. On one hand Rose did have nice legs but on the other she was related by blood to Hyacinth.

Behind him, Hyacinth suddenly looked perplexed as she said, "You know, nobody has mentioned Daddy since me and Richard showed up. Considering he`s the main reason I came here I`d surly ponder what has become of him", "Everybody get ready! I`m going to show these metal scraps some revenge nobody has ever seen before!", Rose shouted as she started firing at the army behind her, not hearing what Hyacinth said.

 **Mini-game #2** **:** _ **Drone Blasting**_

 _ **Objective:**_ _ **As Rose in part one and Daisy/Liz in part two, the players goal is to blast any drones that get too close to the car with the ice cannon arms until the end of the segment is reached. Timing and well aiming are key as the cars are vulnerable to damage by any drone that manages to stay too close long enough.**_

 _ **Controls:**_

 _ **-L Stick: Move icon at target**_

 _ **\- Triangle/Square/Circle/X Button: Fire shot (any button works the same)**_

 _ **Advice:**_

 _ **-As Onslow and Richard drive their cars, they will encounter obstacles that will force them to make extreme swerves which may momentarily make a shot harder. It may be a good idea to keep an eye on the car driver as the player fires, as their facial expressions and body language can serve as a warning to all the swerves.**_

 _ **Description of what happens during part one of the mini-game (Rose):**_

 _As Onslow keeps driving while staying mostly on the road, Emmet panics a bit at the first sharp turn when he nearly falls out of the car (thanks to his door opening from him not closing it tight enough earlier). After he quickly recovers, Hyacinth notices how panicked he looks and offers to sing to him as a means to calm him down. The terrible singing that Hyacinth does nearly sends Emmet into an even worst state of panic as Onslow drives the car through a set of ice patches, swerving a bit every time he drives on a slippery surface. Onslow then drives to a round about where Richards car is seen taking one of the multiple roads ahead. Hyacinth and Rose both encourage Onslow to follow when a house nearby suddenly crumbles out of nowhere, blocking the intended road. Deciding to take a detour, Onslow goes off the road making Emmet show a bit of worry and this in turn gets Hyacinth to start singing again making him almost lose his restraint and scream at her to be quiet._

 _Noticing his state of panic, Onslow attempts to calm Emmet down by suggesting that the duo talk about themselves in order to take their mind off things. Deciding anything is better listening to, Emmet asks Onslow about his childhood which in turn makes Hyacinth the one to panic. Onslow begins to explain some details of his early life with Hyacinth frequently cutting in to embellish some details as to not reveal to Emmet that he was born poor and lived poor (but happy). As he notes the details that Hyacinth liberally adds to the tales amid thirty seconds of driving through backyards, Onslow ends up replying near the end of his talk, "Huh, from the way you describe things I`d have been the King of England"._

 _After this, Onslow ends up getting back to the main road with Hyacinth saying she hopes they didn`t damage the property of anyone important. After half a minute of blasting away some more drones, Rose then glances ahead as she fires and notes that she spots Richards car ahead before everyone notices strange sparks in the sky. The segment ends as Rose also notices Daddy is somehow biking close to Richards car._

Cutscene that airs after the first segment is beaten:

(The story ends up fading from the driving car to a shot of Daddy in a flashback that happened less than two minutes ago):

After he had struggled for who knew how long, Daddy finally managed to get out of the bushes and wiped the branches off him. In his old mind, he had managed to forget what he was doing here in the process of his escape and was surprised to see his bike close by. As he picked it up and though of riding into town to find a pretty babe to take to bed, something else happened that began the end of the world.

At the Bucket household, the orb had continued its ominous countdown and had reached the point where it was less than ten seconds away from eruption. As the single digits got closer to zero, strange lightning started to emit from the orb getting stronger by the second. One of the bolts that was released flew all the way over to where Daddy was as he started biking again, making him vanish in midair upon getting struck and teleport him still biking to the side of the road where Richards car was not too far behind.

As Daddy casually continued his ride unaware of what just happened, the orbs countdown finally hit zero and released an ocean of strange lighting in all directions that absorbed everything into oblivion. The Bucket household, the Warden household and the whole street was erased from existence followed by the next block and the next block and the next…

Onslow drove up to the other car as Richard lowered his window and shouted and signaled for Daddy to come over to him. It didn`t appear that the old man had heard him as he carelessly and excitedly continued to bike down the street. As Rose continued to blast the drone army, she suddenly noticed over half of them vanish in a flash while Onslow was the first to notice what looked like a tsunami of electric bolts approaching the car over the horizon. "Bloody hell", was all he could say in a stunned voice.

Over at the other car, Richard continued to signal to Daddy to come over to him when he suddenly saw some sparks engulf his in-law (though Daddy didn`t appear to be hurt in any way from them) and vanish again in midair. Mouth agape, Richard turned around to face Daisy and Liz when he also saw the giant electric wave approaching. "What`s that!? I`ve never seen anything like it", Liz exclaimed as she and Daisy also noticed the lingering doom in the distance. "I don`t even think that`s possible", Daisy could only say as Richard and Onslow kept going as fast as they could with Onslow passing Richards car.

As both cars made their way down a gravel road, a blast of ice suddenly knocked off the rearview mirror on the driver's side of the Buckets automobile. This brought Richard, Daisy and Liz`s attention back to the remaining drones that were still chasing them, and it seemed more than a few were still in the chase. Noting how a lot of shots were nearly hitting the car and the other drone arm, Richard told Liz and Daisy urgently, "One of you should take the arm and fire back at the attackers. We`ll have a harder time outrunning the electricity if we`re under constant attack".

The moment they heard this, both Liz and Daisy looked at each other worriedly. "Why should I be the one to defend us? There were a few moments in my love life where I almost dropped Onslow`s beer. You wouldn`t believe how panicked that made him", Daisy stated first. "Don`t look at me. I spill coffee at Hyacinths house on a daily basis. Even on the days when I feel stress free", Liz retorted.

After another blast flew over the roof of the car (the closest one to nearly hit the ride), Richard raised his voice and said strongly, "One of you had best decide who will keep these things away from us before we turn into ice cubes. You`d better come up with an answer right now". This prompted Liz and Daisy to shut up. After that, they both glanced at the drone arm and then at each other while pondering the same thought, "Should I do it?"

 **Prompt that appears on screen:**

 _ **Daisy will do it (square button)**_ or _**Elizabeth will do it (circle button)**_

 _-A ten second timer appears below the two options and counts down as the player decides who will take the arm and fire at the incoming drones. If no option is selected the game will make the random decision instead._

 **If Daisy got picked:** "All right, I guess I`ll do it", Daisy exclaimed as she grabbed the drones arm and leaned out her window. "Elizabeth, help keep a lookout for any danger", Richard ordered. "Will do Richard", Liz replied before watching out for any attacking drones that Daisy might miss while Daisy herself began firing at the attackers.

 **If Elizabeth got picked:** "Well, somebodies got to defend us", Liz finally said as she grabbed the drones arm and leaned out her window to fight back. "Daisy, help keep a lookout for any danger", Richard ordered. "Okay. Gotta admit this is the most intense thing I`ve done in my life", Daisy replied before watching out for any attacking drones that Liz might miss while Liz herself began firing at the attackers.

 **Description of what happens during part two of the mini-game (Liz/Daisy):**

 _As Richard continues to make his way down the bumpy road, Daisy/Liz tells him to look out for a fallen tree up ahead, making Richard swerve and then state it was odd that Hyacinth wasn`t the one to say it (making Daisy reply it could be something that runs in the family before dismissing it/making Liz look slightly taken aback to be compared to Hyacinth, prompting Richard to offer a quick apology). A bunch of panicked cows suddenly run out into the road which causes Richard to swerve into a nearby ditch._

 _After Liz/Daisy shout to Richard if he`s okay, Richard states that he is before driving the car up a small gap to reach the road again. During this segment, Liz/Daisy fend off a lot of drones while the one who isn`t firing notes how quickly the electric tidal wave is coming. Richard then gets the car back on the road and continues to flee said wave at a steady pace. After several more moments of driving, he manages to catch up to Onslow`s car thanks to one of the rear tires popping (prompting Daisy to call out to Onslow as she keeps firing/prompting Liz to call out Emmet as she keeps firing). Richard tells the woman in the car that their loved one can`t hear them well over the noise outside before flatly commenting that Hyacinth has spotted him and is either signaling him to watch out for something or to strangle himself._

 _Near the end of the gravel road Richard swerves to avoid some icy spots and manages to drive right next to Onslow`s car. As the two women fire at the drone's side by side (Daisy comments to her sister that they really are great shots, making Rose reply that she wishes she skills were also good in love. This ends up earning her a sarcastic comment form Onslow, much to her annoyance/Liz calls out Rose and asks how she can feel so calm firing back at so many foes who want to destroy her, prompting Rose to reply that she`s shot down so many lovers in the past that this situation feels no different. Hyacinth is then heard brushing off the promiscuity reply as a figure of speech). At this point, the segment ends as the cars reach the main road._

Onslow and Richard both glanced back nervously at the approaching electric wave and saw that it was getting closer than ever. As a stray drone blast made Liz/Daisy drop their drone arm and retreat back into the car, Hyacinth ended up leaning out to ask Richard something. "Richard!? What happened to Daddy!?", "He vanished into thin air! And out of everything that has happened so far I`d actually say it was the most peculiar thing thus far!", "Oh, poor Daddy! His senile mind taking him to places of the unknown might have become literal. I pray he is safe and sound wherever he may be! And to think that he missed out on my last four candlelight suppers I invited him to!", Hyacinth bemoaned as Emmet gave her another annoyed look while Rose`s own weapon stopped firing, prompting her to toss it away in frustration.

Liz peered outside the moment she realized that the attacks had stopped coming at the cars. There were no more drones anywhere, as they apparently cleared their task of freezing almost everyone in sight. However, that good news didn`t help as Liz noticed that the electric wave was coming in faster and less than five hundred feet away. "We won`t make it!", she exclaimed as everyone panicked and screamed at Richard and Onslow to drive faster than their cars could.

As Onslow and Richard argued back that they were going as fast as they could, Rose gave Emmet a huge hug seeking comfort against the man's wishes, Daisy hugged herself longingly while cursing herself for not getting into the other car to be with her lover, Liz hid behind her seat and Hyacinth began to pray madly a stray bolt hit the back of the Buckets car making it flip over into midair. The four in Onslow`s car could only watch in disbelief as another bolt then struck the car and made it vanish in midair; all while leaving Richard, Liz and Daisy to land in front of the other vehicle. Onslow hit the brakes in panic but that proved unnecessary as another bolt after the first hit the midair trio, making them vanish in a similar way to Daddy. 

Onslow, Hyacinth, Emmet and Rose were so caught off guard by what happened that when the electric wave got to them and engulfed their car and themselves they didn`t feel at all surprised.


	7. Keeping Up Appearances-Final

What happened next for Onslow, Rose, Hyacinth and Emmet after they got absorbed by the electric wave had to be seen to be believed. Right away everything around them vanished and the four found themselves in what could best be described as a tunnel of color with said colors moving by them at the speed of light. The car they were in was also moving fast, fast enough to nearly make its inhabitants nearly pass out. Emmet tried to do his best to stay calm as Onslow and Rose screamed in terror, only for him to also lose his composure when Hyacinth managed to lean forward to him declaring, "I may be the last person you see before our untimely demise!"

Then, just as the wild ride had begun it managed to immediately stop. Onslow`s car ended up landing on solid ground and the second he realized it, Onslow hit the breaks again with all his might. For ten seconds the car ended up making a sharp swerve and brought up a lot of dust in the process. The car then managed to stop and nobody ended up giving a reaction until the tail pipe let out a big bang noise followed by a puff of smoke.

Right after that Emmet got out of the car and fell on his knees to the ground exclaiming, "We survived! We survived…", in disbelief. As Onslow, Rose and Hyacinth also got out of the car shaken and slightly traumatized Onslow took a good look at the area around him and exclaimed, "Where the bloody hell are we?"

The area the four were at didn`t look like anyplace they were familiar with. All around as far as the eye could see was a desert with reddish sand and wind that gave a gentle breeze. The sky above was a medium-dark color as if a thunderstorm were to come, though it didn`t make the area look dimmer.

After several moments of more stunned silence, Hyacinth was the first to let out a distressed cry. "Our home! It`s gone! Destroyed in a callous act of violence! My poor Sheridan, dying alone without the comfort of his mother to be there for him! Richard…Daddy and Daisy...Violet and Bruce and their Mercedes, sauna and all that room for a pony!"

Hyacinths sorrow made the other three realize the exact impact of what they lost too. "Liz…", Emmet could only say in terror as he stood up, trying to recall what had happened before she vanished. Rose leaned against the car, her legs buckling from terror, and exclaimed in disbelief, "It can`t be possible! This is a nightmare! Everyone and everything we worked for, gone!", "All the beer in the world and the telly! How will I be able to survive?", Onslow exclaimed as he also tried not to think of the odds of whether Daisy lived or not.

"Oh bug off Onslow! If only my Michael were here…", Rose began on the verge of tears as she started to think of the last moments she had with him. At that moment, she suddenly looked up at her remaining sister and something aggressive clicked in her mind. "Oh-no. Wonder where this will go", Onslow could comment as he watched Rose move towards Hyacinth angrily.

As Emmet was freaking out over his sister's fate and Hyacinth was trying to sympathize with him by saying, "I know Emmet. I`m upset that Elizabeth is gone too. Even though she frequently spilled tea and coffee on my expensive and well cleaned floors and also broke my valuable china on numerous occasions I feel the world has become emptier with her gone. If it had been me who disappeared instead of her, I wouldn`t have minded that scenario", "Why? Why couldn`t it have been you?", Emmet bemoaned as he realized he was virtually alone in a world with Hyacinth.

Before Hyacinth could reply to the statement, Rose reached her and gave her a huge slap in the face, nearly knocking her down. Emmet and Onslow took a step back in shock as Hyacinth recovered and faced her sister in equal disbelief. "Rose!", she exclaimed rubbing the area that was slapped.

"Hyacinth Bucket!", Rose angrily shouted in rage. "It`s pronounced Bouquet", "You filthy swine! It`s all your fault I lost the true love of my life during the attacks. You scared the postman I was seeing and made him run into one of those monstrous iceboxes. You basically erased him from existence!", Rose continued to rant, not hearing her sister. "Makes me wonder if he was the luckier one or not", Emmet told himself.

Rose overheard the comment however and faced him next. "Oh bug off Ons…I mean Emmet. I`m so upset I may never see another wonderful man again, and now I`m too upset to even consider you".

As Onslow took two steps forward pondering what to do, Hyacinth approached Rose and said, "Now Rose, calm down. I`m sure if you take a few deep breathes we can all…". Rose replied by shoving Hyacinth back and grabbing a fist full of dust. She then attempted to throw it at her sister but Hyacinth ducked out of the way in time and Emmet got the face full of dirt instead. Before a shocked Rose could apologize to Emmet, he wiped off the dirt around his eyes and walked over to her. With all his might he managed to shove Rose back and into Onslow, knocking the air out of Onslow`s lungs momentarily.

"Oy! What`s the big idea?", Onslow declared as he started to feel aggressive about being indirectly attacked. Feeling his own moment of rage quickly dwindle, Emmet took a step back and began to say, "Sorry Onslow, she…", before Hyacinth cut him off to answer to Onslow instead. "Now Onslow, there`s no reason to talk to Emmet like that in front of me when you consider our neighborly relationship".

"Oh, so even after the end of the world you`d rather side with your neighbor than your own flesh and blood?", Onslow replied to Hyacinth as he patted Rose once on the shoulder. "Hey, I didn`t say I was taking Hyacinths side in anything. The very idea of me doing that…", Emmet tried to speak again as he noticed things were one step away from a real brawl.

Emmet`s words ended up going over everyone`s head however as Hyacinth stated to Onslow, "All I`m trying to do is provide the world a bit of class and clarity. Given the circumstances, some of us here could very well use it". This made Rose and Onslow stare at Hyacinth in hatred and disbelief. For Rose, this was the straw that finally broke the camels back as she raised her fists. "Oh, class and clarity? I`ll show you and your more important neighbor some of that in my own way", she threatened.

"Hey, don`t do anything stupid you`ll all regret", Emmet said bitterly over the stress the conflict was making him feel. This ended up being the wrong thing to say as Onslow sternly gazed at him and Hyacinth before saying, "I think a good wallop will give you two some humility if that`s what it`ll take".

Hyacinth put up her own fists to mirror Rose in an awkward way and declared, "Well, I`m sure me and Emmet can handle you two together", "G`ah!", was all Emmet could stutter as he realized he was on Hyacinths side with no way to turn back at this point. As he got his insecurity in check, Emmet and Hyacinth then charged at Rose and Onslow and the fight quickly began.

 **Fight 1-4:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Hyacinth**

 **-Emmet**

 **(side A)**

 **-Onslow**

 **-Rose**

 **(side B)**

 **(Authors note: There are some fights in the story where the player can pick which group they want to see win. This in turn affects what happens next in the plot, though the scale of consequence can vary).**

 **After the fight:**

 _ **If Hyacinth and Emmet (side A) won the fight:**_

As Hyacinth looked at her unconscious relatives on the ground, a sense of dread suddenly overcame her. "Oh my…what have we done Emmet?", she could only say. "Please don`t tell me we...killed them", Emmet could only state in panic, realizing that if Onslow and Rose were dead then it would mean that it would definitely be just him and Hyacinth alone; his worst nightmare would have finally come true.

To his relief, Onslow and Rose started to suddenly stir and groan as they tried to sit up all of a sudden; their consciousness coming back to them. "Oy, you two really know how to scuffle, I`ll give you that", Onslow stated rubbing his head while Rose managed to stand up with her legs wobbling for a moment. Leaning over, Hyacinth and Emmet both helped Onslow up off the ground and then backed away; the two groups starring at each other as if anything good or bad could happened next.

 _ **If Onslow and Rose (side B) won the fight:**_

"Whew. That was intense and strange", Rose stated as she starred at Hyacinth and Emmet laying on the ground unconscious. "I can`t believe what I just did", Onslow could only say with regret as he knelt down and gently nudged Hyacinth, hoping that he didn`t hit her too hard earlier.

Rose`s own feeling of victory suddenly faded as she watched Onslow and suddenly exclaimed in regret, "Oh-no! What have we done!? I`ve let the love of my life get the better of me!", "Honestly, it sounds like a usual Friday night for you…wait, wait. Here they go", Onslow replied before seeing Hyacinth and Emmet stir and slowly lean up. With both his hands, Onslow managed to raise the duo up and then took a few steps back towards Rose. After Hyacinth and Emmet fully recovered the two groups then looked awkwardly at each other as if they didn`t know how to react in any way.

(The next part of the story continues the same regardless as to who won the fight): Finally, Rose broke the silence by replying, "I`m so sorry Hyacinth. I just let everything get to me. I thought your mailman was the one for me when the world ended", "It`s okay Rose. Besides, you may have dodged a bullet. The mailman on my street seemed to be scared of women on his route in the neighborhood", Hyacinth replied sincerely, making Emmet roll his eyes in frustration over the irony that Hyacinth wasn`t aware of. It was her who made the mailman apprehensive with her snobby demands to him. Her!

Noting Emmet`s reaction and feeling it was best to change the topic before something else stupid was said or done, Onslow cleared his throat and stated, "All right then, I say the best thing we do now is to get our bearings and find some shelter. It may be calm here now but in a few hours, who knows?", "I agree. Perhaps we should scout this…wasteland. Maybe someone besides the four of us survived the blast somehow", Emmet began before he realized something. "Wait a minute. We were hit by the same source that Liz was. Maybe she`s alive and out here somewhere!", he exclaimed optimistically. "Daddy, Daisy and Violet could be here with us and also another man!", Rose excitedly declared picking up Emmet`s feelings of hope. "I do hope Richard is alright. He could overexcite himself traveling to another world without me by his side for guidance", Hyacinth added boastfully.

Happy to see that the hostility within the group was mostly resolved, Onslow returned to his car and signaled everybody to get in. As he slid into the driver's seat with Rose taking the passenger seat and Emmet and Hyacinth resumed their places in the back Rose asked, "Where to now Onslow?", "I`ll just go in a random direction and hope we find something before the fuel tank empties out", he replied as he noted his car only had a quarter of gas left in the tank. This response made Hyacinth frown and ask, "Is that really the best idea you`re going with?", "Hey, it`s the smartest one I can think of so I say we go for it", Onslow replied before driving off into the unknown world.

About forty minutes of driving later, the positive vibe that the group managed to get had steadily shifted towards dread. They didn`t find anyone or anything aside from sandy dunes and tall, ominous hills. Hyacinth was attempting to keep everyone entertained by trying to recall the photos she had of Sheridan and describing them in great detail. "…and I`m sure you remember the ones I showed you on August 18th. It was the one where Sheridan was trying to dance for his mommy in the backyard. Oh, how his choreography was amazing even at a ripe young age", Hyacinth exclaimed. "Yes, I remember you showing me that one once or forty times", Emmet replied with frustration while Onslow yawned.

As Onslow then looked out the window expecting to see more wasteland, he spotted something out of the corner of his eye. It looked vague from a distance, but he could`ve sworn he was looking at a building! At this point, Hyacinth was describing the next photo of Sheridan she once had when a sharp turn caught her and everyone off guard. "Onslow. There`s no reason to drive reckless in a place like this!", she exclaimed as she quickly recovered. "We just got ourselves a lucky break!", Onslow replied pointing excitedly at the building, causing everyone to fall silent with anticipation.

To the groups relief and further excitement, when they ended up reaching the building they found that it was actually real and not a hallucination. As Onslow parked close by, he also pointed out that the place didn`t seem to look abandoned which may be a good sign. Hyacinth was the first to get out of the car and realize something else about the place. "I know this building. It`s Richard`s old place of occupation. The Commissions Office. He worked here before his early retirement", she told her group as they also got out. "Well, what`s it doing out here then?", Emmet asked in disbelief. "Maybe there`s someone inside. Hello! Anyone home!?", Rose called out while Onslow moved straight ahead for the front door.

By the time Onslow had reached the entrance, nobody had replied and the rest of the party followed him up the steps. As Onslow grabbed the doorknob and turned it Hyacinth muttered to Rose, "The place had better not have turned into a pigsty with my husband's absence", "The place had better have more than one room to sleep in. Lord knows what I`d do if I have to share a place to sleep with the Bucket woman", Emmet told himself.

After a moment, Onslow managed to open the stubborn door and the four peered inside. There wasn`t anyone around but for some odd reason the place had electricity with the indoor area as brightly lit as any other building, even though a power line wasn`t in sight anywhere else. The layout for the whole building also didn`t seem to be like any usual commissions office as the only layout was a hallway and three rooms, all of which were apparently closed behind sturdy doors.

Stepping in first, Onslow approached the first door and prepared to open it when Hyacinth suddenly ran up and declared that she would do the honors. After taking her time a bit by adjusting her gloves and polishing the doorknob with her breathe and wrist, she opened the door and stepped in. To her and everyone else`s surprise, the only thing that was in the room was a huge table that looked like it would belong in any business building.

"Well, that was a bust", Emmet could only say before he left the room to try and open the other two doors. As he found out the other two rooms were completely shut and impossible to even pry open, Rose suddenly noticed something odd about the table and gestured her sister and in-law over to see. On the table surface were seven odd shapes that were carved in and they all appeared to be faintly glowing upon squinting. Below the seven shapes were also some writing which was alien to the trio. "This is weirder than anything I`ve seen on the telly", Onslow could only say as the seven shapes suddenly glowed a bit brighter, now visible to the naked eye. "Onslow, your whole life is mostly centered on television and bed", Rose replied.

Before Hyacinth could make a statement about either Rose`s comment or the mystery table, she and her two family members heard Emmet let out a startled yelp outside and ran into the hallway. There, Emmet was standing near the end of the wall looking at a strange neon sign one would see at a bar. "Emmet, what`s wrong?", Rose asked. "That sign. It just appeared out of nowhere when I gave up trying to open the other two doors", Emmet replied pointing at it as if it were a ghost. Onslow brushed past him and walked right up to the sign to read it. "Huh. The Crab Shack. Any of you heard of a place like this?", he asked. After he got three head shaking no`s, he shrugged and said, "I don`t know about all of you but I`m going to find answers to our situation one way or another and I think that table is our best bet".

Onslow headed back to the table room while Emmet gave Rose and Hyacinth a confused look. As they reassured Emmet he would soon understand, the trio in the hallway got another surprise when they noticed that the Crab Shack neon sign was gone, vanishing as randomly as it had appeared. Creeped out, Hyacinth, Emmet and Rose all ran straight to Onslow without looking back immediately. If they had stuck around, a few faint sounds of a banjo and electric guitar would have been heard momentarily.

 **End of Keeping Up Appearances (Story Arc 1)**

 **Everyone`s status`:**

-Onslow, Rose, Hyacinth, Emmet (in mystery world and in unknown building)

 **-** Daisy, Richard, Liz (unknown after orb erased their dimension from existence)

-Daddy (alone and riding his bike in an unknown place and time)


	8. My Name is Earl- Part 1

_Chapter 2: Karma and Consequences_

 _My Name is Earl_

(The opening to the show plays with the theme song heard prior. It then quickly fades into the next segment/arc or whatever you`d like to call it)

As the jukebox in the bar played the song "Trouble Ahead" by Randy Meiser, Joy Turner and Catalina Aruca had noticed the neon sign for the infamous Crab Shack bar of Camden County (located somewhere in the southern part of the USA) had started to flicker amid a conversation they were having.

Setting her beer on the counter, Joy leaned over and called out over the crowded and chatty establishment, "Hey Darnell! Signs starting to act all busted again! Better fix it before someone says that their eyes are literally bleeding again!", "Sure thing babe", Joys second husband, Darnell "Crabman" Turner, replied as he emerged from the kitchen holding a crab in hand. After setting it on the semi-dirty counter, Crabman got to work on the sign by slapping and shaking it repeatedly as Catalina checked her watch and muttered something in Spanish.

"Say what now?", Joy asked glancing over at her frenemy as her husband got the neon sign to glow normally again. "I`ve got to get back to work at the motel. Huge mess to clean up. This salesman was selling lube to the guests door to door when another rival salesman selling a different brand confronted him and accused him of being on his turf and taking his own profit away from him. Long story short, things went from a huge argument to a squirt gun battle with their merchandise. To make things worse, some of the guests came outside and got in on the action in more than one way", Catalina explained nonchalantly.

Picking up the crab and wiping off a peanut shell with a dirty bar rag in his apron, Crabman commented, "Sounded like an intense moment. Did Earl and Randy get involved in all that somehow?", "No. They were both out of town since yesterday. I was told by Randy that he and Earl had something to do on his list"

"Say anything about when Earl…I mean when those two idiots…did those two idiots mention when they`d come back?", Joy asked, stuttering awkwardly for a moment at the mention of her ex-husband. As Crabman gave her a funny look, Catalina asked, "Why is it that you`re so interested in Earl recently?", "Oh, nothing. What? Can`t a woman listen to a story about special cream without dragging her ex-husband into this?", Joy declared as the looks she got from Crabman and Catalina became more awkward.

 **(Authors note: For those of you who don`t know the show, Earl narrated during some parts of the episode. Whenever "Earl narrating" comes up the scene described below it is what`s happening during the voice over)**

 **Earl narrating:** "Turns out that the situation was more awkward when one really thought of it. Back before I was hit by a car and discovered karma, I had married Joy when she was pregnant with what appeared to be somebody else`s kid. However, while I was trying to find who I thought was the boys real father, it turns out that I was the man all along".

 **Scene that plays out next:** _The screen pauses to a still of Joy defending herself and shows a bit of flashback from the original ending of "My Name is Earl" (Dodges Dad-Part 1) where Earl, Joy and Crabman were looking over a DNA test to see if Joy was right about her first son being related to the towns richest man, Little Chubby, after an apparent one-night stand. To everyone`s shock, they discover that it was actually Earl who met Joy at a Halloween party in the Crabshack and later impregnated her with what would be their own boy named Dodge Hickey._

Taking one last sip of her beer, Catalina set her bottle down and started to leave. Before she did, she turned around and told Joy and Crabman, "If you`re wondering what I think, Earl and Randy may be gone for about a day or two. Earl called me last night and said the guys he had to make something up to on his karma list live out of town and its taking him a while to track them down", "What did Earl do anyway?", Crabman asked as he set the crab on a nearby dirty plate and rang a call bell nearby to signal a customer.

After a moment of thought, Catalina replied, "I think it was something he did back in 2001. Hundred…something. The thing is, I know it involved a video game store".

 **Earl narrating:** "What Catalina was talking about was number 141 on my list: Tried to rob a video game store and beat up three teens in the process".

 **Scene shown:** _Catalina turning around and walking out of the Crabshack before the story jumps back in time to the lists event._

 _ **(flashback) 2001**_

 **Earl narrating:** "During the summer me, Randy and Joy were looking for a new place to rob since many of the hot spots in Camden were already done or had too much security to even try. So the three of us took the El Camino out of town to try and find somewhere close by that we could steal from".

 **Scene shown:** __ _Earl, Randy and Joy are in Earls El Camino car driving down a random street while looking at stores and businesses and finding the perfect place to rob. As they are seen debating amongst themselves where they should hit, the Alan Parsons Project`s "Games People Play" is heard as the soundtrack._

"Hey, how about we hit that insurance store? Betcha they got a lotta insurance money", Joy exclaimed leaning over Earl as he drove by to point. Slowing down a bit, Earl glanced at the building and shook his head. "Nah. Too many people in there. Plus, I don`t believe in insurance. Sounds like a government scam or something", "Oh! Oh! How about that Chuck E. Cheese!? Can we rob that place Earl!? Can we Earl, huh!", Randy asked excitedly like a little kid the moment he spotted the place. "What`s there to steal even?", Earl asked baffled. "Well, there are some prizes at the booth I always wanted to get like a stuffed animal but the amount of tickets needed are too steep and it makes me angry", Randy answered with serious grit. Joy could only shake her head in disbelief and exclaimed, "Honestly dummy, some days it feels like you`re a cheap prize".

 **Earl narrating:** "At that point I felt ready to give up, turn around and go home when I suddenly saw it…the perfect place to steal from".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl looked out the window starting to feel helpless while Randy and Joy began to bicker behind him. Suddenly, he spotted a store that made his expression lighten up._

Facing his bickering brother and wife Earl excitedly exclaimed, "Hey, guys, how about this place? Gamestop?", "Ooh, sounds fancy. Let`s check it out", Joy excitedly stated after a moment's thought. As Earl started to drive for the store Randy called out, "If they`ve got a candy land I call dibs on stealing it first!"

 **Earl narrating:** "After the three of us confirmed the place had no surveillance cameras anywhere, we entered the store feeling lucky. From what I recall, it seemed as though we`d stumbled upon a jackpot".

 **Scene shown:** _The camera jumps from a shot of the trio in the car to a pan shot of the store near the entrance with Earl leading the group inside_.

As soon as all three thieves entered and saw the place, a feeling of intimidation came to them. Joy glanced at the displays of Gamecubes and PS2`s and said, "Earl, I`ve never seen any high tech stuff like this. They remind me of that super gizmo in that Kubrick space film", before hugging Earl`s arm in fear.

"Maybe if we ignore them they can`t hurt us. Come on, there might be some cash in the register", Earl urgently replied as he and Joy cautiously moved through the store like they were in a mine field. Randy began to awkwardly follow them when he noticed a TV monitor displaying a bright and action packed PS2 game that grabbed his attention. Basically hypnotized, he approached the screen oblivious to everything around him.

 **Earl narrating:** "As Randy preoccupied himself with what appeared to be a demo, me and Joy were getting near our prize to take. Personally, when I saw nobody was at the back counter desk right away I thought I`d caught another lucky break and had a clean getaway".

 **Scene shown** _ **:**_ _Earl and Joy looked around a bit more before getting to the register. Then Earl walked forward, leaned over and tried to pry the register open with his bare hands while Joy kept a lookout for the entrance. When Earls strategy didn`t work, he tried his best to grip the sides and lift the whole register up which proved to be hard as it was a bit heavier than he anticipated._

 **Earl narrating:** "Before I could walk out of the store with any money however, it seemed as though my luck had run out. Three teenage employees who were checking in on the merchandise in the back had stepped out".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl managed to lift the register enough to set it on the counter surface when three chatting teenagers (one with so much acne it covered over half his face, one with very long hair and one who was fat) emerged from a door in the back of the store. As soon as they saw each other, Earl backed away from the register while the three teens stopped talking._

"Oh snap!", Joy could only say as she realized that she and Earl were busted. As Earl started to back away at a steady pace, Joy out of nowhere sprinted for the exit which caused one of the teens to run to the counter and press a button under it. The entrance became automatically locked the second before Joy could open it, trapping her inside. As Randy let out a frustrated groan upon losing a life in the game demo he was playing, Earl looked around in panic before gazing at the three teens and saying, "You`d better let us out if you know what`s good for you", as aggressively as he could. This prompted all three teens to raise their fists simultaneously (albeit reluctantly).

 **Earl narrating:** "It turns out the three teens were running the store alone while the rest of their co-workers were eating lunch at a nearby establishment. While they were terrified of being robbed, they were also new to their job and seemed determined to prove their worth as employees".

 **Scene shown:** _As Earl looked surprised at the three teens, the three teens looked more anxious by the second yet stood their ground looking ready to attack. Behind Earl, Randy was trying another round of the demo while Joy pounded the entrance door one more time and spun around to face the teens as well before starting to approach them._

"Did you hear what I said? Let us go now!", Earl demanded taking a step forward and making the trio in front of him flinch. "Oh yeah? You and what army?", the fat teen asked with his voice extremely shaky. At this point, Joy had gotten to Earl and was cagier than him. "This one right here as WELL AS OUR OTHER HELPER!", she called out to Randy, who was lost trying to start another demo despite the easy instructions onscreen. "Dang. Like trying to use a NASA computer", Randy commented shaking the controller as he remained oblivious to the conflict close by.

"Forget about it Joy. We can take care of these guys all on our own", Earl replied feeling the adrenaline as he stepped forward ready to fight.

 **Earl narrating:** "What happened next…let`s just say it was yet another thing karma would punish me for on that fateful day I won that scratch ticket and got put into a coma".

 **Scene shown** _ **:**_ _Earl and Joy both make their moves by trying to punch and kick the teens. While a few moves land, the three teens surprisingly defend most of the attacks and throw a few successful counter-attacks. The screen then pauses as Joy and Earl step back to briefly recover for the player to select the fighting order._

 **Fight 2-1:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Earl**

 **-Joy**

 _ **Opponent:**_

 **3 Gamestop Employees**

After the fight:

After Earl threw the last punch causing the third teenager hit the ground unconscious alongside his fellow employees, he and Joy looked impressed at their win. "Whoa! Sure packed a wallop. Get your brother Earl. Time we bail", Joy boasted before going to the counter. As she felt under the surface for the button to open the door, Earl approached Randy the same time he got a huge bonus score in his game demo. "Wow! Hey Earl, look at that. So many colors and explosions!", he exclaimed pointing excitedly to his brother. "That`s nice and all but we gotta move. Let`s go", "But Earl, I`m not even finished with…", "Now Randy!", Earl stated basically dragging his brother to the door as Joy unlocked it and ran up to them.

As the trio left the Gamestop and sped off in the El Camino, all that remained were the three teens laying on the floor and groaning in pain.

 **Earl narrating:** "It had been nine years since that day. After all that time had passed I now realized it was my karma related duty to make it up to those three boys for all the pain I put them through. I just hoped they wouldn`t be holding any major grudges against me".

 _ **(Present day)**_

As Joy set down her own beer bottle next to Catalina`s long after she`d left, everyone in the Crab Shack heard a loud rumble above and briefly stopped what they were doing to look up. Crabman emerged from the kitchen, this time cleaning a dirty plate with his apron. As he also glanced up at the ceiling for a moment he commented, "That`s strange. Weather today was supposed to be clear", "Oh please Darnell. Everybody knows that Camden`s meteorology team can`t tell the weather cause they don`t know what the hell they`re doing so they make shit up off the top of their empty heads", Joy briefly ranted.

"Hope our boys…I mean the boys…I hope the kids are doing okay back home", Crabman replied struggling to find the right words. "Course they are Darnell. That guy who still thinks the world is ending in 2007 is an excellent sitter. Sure he may yell nonsense half the time, but my kids seem to think it`s more entertaining than half the crap on TV these days", Joy responded before noting how Crabman acted at the words, "..my kids".

Sighing with frustration, Joy then exclaimed, "Seriously Darnell, Earl didn`t know Dodge was his boy till a few weeks ago, yet he tried raising that kid for five years as if he were his own…you know what I`m going for. No DNA test should make you feel insecure about raising Earl Jr.", (reflecting how the earlier flashback not only revealed that Dodge was Earls son but that her younger black son wasn`t related to her husband).

Sighing, Crabman replied, "All I`m saying is that Dodge has some closure knowing who his real father is now. Earl Jr. won`t look me in the eye anymore since he found out the truth" as several of the bar patrons went over to the TV to watch the attractive female sports announcer read the latest news. Joy let out a frustrated sigh. Just because she didn`t conceive a kid with her husband didn`t mean that she`d leave him…at least with Crabman she wouldn`t.

Before the awkward conversation could continue any further though, a pair of footsteps were heard behind Joy and they were approaching her. As she turned around, Joy got surprised to see Earl and Randy there, with Earl apparently looking like he had a beating with Randy trying his best to keep him up.

Noting Earls state, Crabman snapped out of his worries and exclaimed in surprise, "Whoa. Seems like something definitely happened out there", "Like you wouldn`t believe", Randy replied as another loud rumbling sound was heard above everyone.


	9. My Name is Earl- Part 2

Earl took a seat at the bar with Joy and Randy next to him while Darnell got a big ice bag from the back. As Earl set the ice bag on his head, Randy asked his brother curiously, "Does it still hurt", "It`s not as bad as it was half an hour ago. Now I`m seeing 4 of everything instead of 12", Earl explained as he leaned forward to grab a peanut from a plate close by, only to miss on all his attempts.

As Joy put one of the peanuts in Earls hand, she asked, "How the hell did you end up like this? I`ve have hangovers on a daily basis throughout my adult life and it never got that bad", while Randy glanced at the TV. After Earl ate his nut he started talking.

 **(Flashback)**

 **Earl narrating:** "Me and Randy spent a lot of time yesterday and today looking for those three teenagers I beat up all those years ago. Turns out the task became easier said than done when I discovered at their old place of occupation they`d transferred after the fight. Ultimately, I discovered that they now worked at another Gamestop 15 miles away from their original one."

 **Scene shown:** _Earl and Randy approaching a different Gamestop and entering it while looking around. Right away, Earl spots the three now adult workers chatting in the rear while Randy is drawn to a PS4 game that has a small crowd around it._

 **Earl narrating:** "I ended up talking to the three now adult workers about how I discovered karma and that I wanted to make up for what I`d done to them. They all seemed pretty eager about their idea to call it even with me."

 **Scene shown** _ **:**_ _Earl is shown talking to the three workers. The one who used to have zits notably has a face so clear he could be mistaken for a model, the one who had the long hair is mostly bald and the formerly fat teen has so much muscle on him it could almost put Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson to shame. All of them listen to Earl explain everything before they look at each other and grin maliciously._

One of the employees dragged Earl to the back of the store with his friends following them eagerly from behind.

As the last person to enter the back closed the door, Randy had begun playing a game of "Cuphead" with a younger kid and was losing big time. His co-player on the other hand scored a lot of points as he evaded a complex amount of onscreen enemies and projectiles. "Wow, how did you do that? Are you a wizard?", Randy could only ask watching the boy with disbelief. "No, but my mom is such a huge Harry Potter fan she thinks she is. Makes me a target for school bullies that like to throw stuff at me. You could say this game best represents my life", the boy exclaimed a moment before he defeated the game's first boss and let out a victory cheer with all the other observers.

In the back of the Gamestop, Earl found himself sitting in a lawn chair with one of the employees prepping to roll a die while the other two held him down. "Let me get this straight: You`ll each roll that die and the number you get is the amount of times you`ll each punch me in the face?", Earl asked apprehensively as the adult with the die rolled. As the result came up, the adult who used to be overweight stated, "Yep, dreamed about this form of revenge after I regained conscious that day", "Wow! Look at that! Fat Jimmy got a 40; the highest number on the die!", one of his friends exclaimed the moment he saw the results.

Earl had just enough time to look down at the die and then at the muscular employee who flexed his big muscular arms for a lot of punches before he gulped and closed his eyes, embracing himself for the pain.

Outside in the main room, Randy groaned in frustration as he lost another round of the demo while the punches could faintly be heard amid all the cheering for the other player (who managed to get a perfect score on a level and was jumping up and down excitedly).

 **(Present Time)**

"So let me get this straight, you got punched in the face 73 times but managed to cross something off your karma list as a result?", Joy asked as Earl finished telling everyone his story. "Actually, 74 times. The last one to take a go got carried away at his turn for a moment", Earl responded as Crabman grabbed a beer from below the counter and gave it to him.

"Man, some of those things you have to make up for seem like a real headache…sorry about the bad pun Earl", Crabman said. "It`s nothing Crabman. I`ll be fine in a moment. Besides, as long as I get the chance to make up for my whole list I think I can live with anything that happens in life", Earl replied before the TV news broadcast sounded an emergency signal.

As a bunch of men let out annoyed grunts that their favorite female reporter was no longer in the picture, almost everyone in the building quieted down to listen before the broadcast started. The screen out of nowhere showed another panicked reporter in an unknown area with so much pandemonium around him that it was hard to make out what exactly was going on. The best way the scene could be described were sounds of weapons firing and a lot of people running around screaming. "What the hell`s going on?", Joy asked looking over with Earl and Crabman. "Maybe they`re airing a surprise movie. You know, the one that is so bad it`s good", Randy answered. As he kept watching, Crabman suddenly looked more alarmed by the second. "I don`t think this is a movie. Looks like an attack of some epic magnitude."

As everyone overheard what Crabman said, the reporter was suddenly heard over the confusion taking place onscreen. "These mysterious beings have been spotted attacking every country on Earth and freezing anyone they come across. Right here just outside of Camden…". Before the reporter could say more however, he was suddenly frozen into an icy sculpture and rose into the sky. After that the camera cut to static, ominously ending the segment.

At this point, everyone in the Crab Shack was staring at the screen dumbfound; Crabman`s words about a huge attack getting to them. Randy then broke the silence by letting out a loud cheer and a round of clapping, making everyone stare awkwardly at him. "Bravo! Bravo! Whoo! What an amazing movie. Say, does anyone know when the next part will be back on? I wanna see what`ll happened next other than watching static again". Worried chatter began to fill up the establishment as Earl looked around confused.

 **Earl narrating:** "Camden had faced danger in the past ranging from tornados to swarms of killer bees, meaning a lot of us knew that when it seemed like a threat was most likely to occur it was best not to ignore it. Problem was, nobody knew exactly what kind of threat we were facing."

 **Scene shown:** _As everyone talks apprehensively, Crabman is shown gesturing to Joy to follow him to the back urgently. Confused, Joy does without anyone noticing while Randy moves over to the TV, stands up on a chair and shakes the screen in an attempt to get the static to stop._

All the chatter in the Crab Shack suddenly became quiet (apart from Randy`s muttering as he tried to fix the TV) as similar sounds of blasting and screaming were heard outside. Out of nowhere, the front door was kicked open, giving everyone a jump scare as they spun to face the source. To their relief, it was just a person leaning against the doorframe panting from exhaustion. The moment he identified him, Earl was the first to find his voice again.

"Ralph Mariano? What are you doing here? I thought you were on the run from the law or something", "Oh, hey Earl. Nice seeing ya out of prison. I had decided to stop by my home for old time sake and steal some supplies to keep living on the lamb when these robot things appeared out of nowhere and started to freeze everyone they could get", Ralph managed to reply in his usual shyster-esque to despite his exhaustion. "Wait a minute, did Ralph say robots as in killer robots?", Randy suddenly asked glancing away from the screen. "I wouldn`t say they`re killin` anybody but after they freeze someone they-".

Before Ralph could finish his sentence there was a loud blasting sound from behind him. To everyone`s shock and horror, Ralph became completely encased in ice before he levitated into the sky away from the doorframe. Then, about half a dozen ominous drones entered the bar and opened fire, freezing everyone they managed to hit. As half the bar patrons (which included regulars Nescabar-A-Lop-Lop and Tim Stack) were frozen and began to hover for the exit, the rest managed to brush by their attackers and ran outside screaming their heads off into the unknown dangers outside.

Earl found himself leaning against the bar rolling and dodging multiple blasts that barely hit him while Randy became too scared to move for a few moments. As half the drones left the Crab Shack to go after the fleeing patrons, one of the remaining attackers aimed at Randy and managed to hit him in the face, making half of it get stuck to the nearby TV screen.

"Ah! Earl! Help! I`m stuck to the TV like mom said we would if we watch too much of it!", Randy yelled almost dangling in midair as he fought to free himself. Noticing Randy`s predicament as well as the blasts that nearly hit him, Earl let out a yelp of panic before he managed to sprint towards his brother. After climbing onto a nearby chair and then onto the bars surface, he began to try and pull Randy free while it looked like the next shot fired at them would freeze either Hickey brother.

The three drones started to move closer and Earl stopped trying to free Randy and just closed his eyes, waiting in fear for the killing blow. Out of nowhere, he heard several things whiz by in the air and strike the drones, knocking them back. Opening his eyes, Earl noticed Crabman standing behind the bar holding a knife while Joy lingered near the kitchen entrance with a large case in hand. All three drones turned their attention to Crabman and Joy as Crabman shouted, "Yeah, that`s right! Nobody attempts to freeze my friends and gets away with it!"

"Thanks Crabman! Good throwing arm", Earl called as two of the drones fired at Joy, prompting her to duck for cover while an unflinching Crabman walked over and grabbed a busboy tray of dirty utensils from the counter behind him. As he set it down close to Earl and grabbed a lot of dirty knives, Joy shouted, "Come on Darnell, we gotta get out of here and find the boys! They need us now more than ever!", "We will babe. Just let me help Earl free Randy first so they can come with us! Earl, keep pulling him. I think you can pry him off the TV with enough effort! It looks like someone is about to throw a bunch of silverware around in the Crab Shack for a good cause this time", Crabman called out to Joy and then Earl. As Joy stayed behind the counter cursing the scenario taking place, Earl nodded and began to pull Randy, making him scream in pain.

 **Earl narrating:** "Crabman had plenty of experience in times like these thanks to his secret agent training in his youth and I knew he would buy me some time while he and Joy kept the drones busy. For some reason though, one of the drones decided not to fire and just charged, making things a bit harder for everyone involved".

 **Scene shown:** _As Earl keeps pulling Randy (with some of the encasing ice starting to show cracks), Crabman flings a knife at one drone while the other two keep firing at Joys cover. The arm cannon malfunctions which makes the drone start to glide for the Hickey brothers with the stamina of an enraged bull. Seeing this, Crabman focuses all his effort on the rouge drone while keeping a bit of an eye on the other two and grabs a whole handful of dirty knives to fling._

 **Mini-game #3:** **Knife Toss**

 _ **Objective:**_ _ **As Darnell "Crabman" Turner the player has to throw enough knives at the charging drone to let Earl free his brother from the TV screen. The mini-game is simple as it involves pressing the right set of buttons in order.**_

 _ **Controls:**_

 _ **-Triangle/square/circle/X button: Throw knife when signal appears onscreen.**_

 _ **Advice:**_

 _ **-The outcome of the mini-game will affect the next fight that takes place in the story, so be alert at each prompt if you want to get the outcome where Crabman succeeded.**_

Set of prompts that appear and cutscene that takes place if each knife throwing segment is successfully completed:

 _Wave 1: Triangle, Triangle, Triangle, X, X, X, Square, Square, Square, X_

Cutscene: As the charging drone ended up fumbling back to where it started with some sparks flying, Joy screamed at Crabman again, "Darnell!", "Just keep your head down!", Crabman could only reply as he grabbed another set of knifes as the charging drone recovered and went again.

 _Wave 2: Square, Square, Square, Square, X, X, Circle, Circle, Circle, Triangle, Triangle, Square_

Cutscene: Earl kept pulling Randy with part of his face becoming unstuck. "Come on Randy. We`re almost there! Think of something happy!", Earl called to his brother as he saw Crabman succeed in keeping the rouge drone at bay. "I`m thinking of my face glued somewhere softer. Like a mattress at the motel room that doesn`t smell bad and has food stains on it I can lick!", Randy shouted as Earl pulled again with all his might.

 _Wave 3: Square, Triangle, Circle, X, X, X, Circle, Triangle, Triangle, Circle, Triangle, Square, X, X, Square_

Cutscene: Just as it looked like Crabman had thrown his last knife and had no means of helping the Hickey brothers, Earl managed to pull hard enough one last time and freed Randy, sending both brothers stumbling off the bar surface and onto the floor in a bit of a heap. Thankfully, the drones didn`t fire immediately as the rouge one stumbled back into its allies and knocked all of them down hard.

 **(Authors note: Because this event can go one of two ways, the two outcomes will be listed below. If you`d like to imagine you passed the mini-game read "Objective Cleared" and then skip to the next chapter. If the player believes s/he has failed and wants to see that outcome, skip the cleared version and read "Objective Failed".**

 **Objective Cleared:** (continues from where Wave 3`s success cut scene ended)- As he partially ducked behind the bar and made sure that the drones couldn`t easily hit him, Crabman watched with fear and then relief as Earl and Randy got up with Randy rubbing his face.

"You two okay?", Crabman asked. "Swell. Thanks again for the help back there", Earl said quickly. "I`m fine too. But now my face is so cold I can`t even feel it. You should touch it and see", Randy said leaning over to make his cheek get close to Earls face. Before Earl or Crabman could react in any way, the three drones had gotten up again at this point and started to launch a big wave of icy blasts at the four members still in the Crab Shack. As Crabman evaded and went over to his wife, Earl and Randy ran over to a table, flipped it over and took cover behind it.

Noting the situation as well as her strong desire to get out of the place, Joy grabbed her husband by the arm and exclaimed, "It was nice to see you exercise that throwin` arm and all but it`s high time we get out of here." And with that, Joy began to drag Crabman away towards the back. Noticing this, Randy exclaimed, "Hey! What about us?"

Pausing for a moment, Joy glanced at her ex-husband and Randy and then at the three drones (who`s shots either flew by the table or hit it and coated it with a bit more ice) and exclaimed, "You dummies can do us a solid by fighting these thingamajigs and buy us time considering we helped you out of harm's way. Come on Darnell, we`re bailing!", before dragging Crabman away without looking back (with Crabman not being able to say one word amid all this).

After the duo behind the bar vanished, Randy looked at Earl with disbelief and exclaimed, "I can`t believe they left us like that Earl! I thought the four of us really had something going between us". As another ice blast destroyed part of the table, Earl suddenly decided to take action and exclaimed, "Never mind that Randy. We need to take these things out before they freeze us."

Earl then stood up and kicked aside the table as he did a strange karate pose. As the drones advanced on the brothers, Randy took a note from Earl and tried to do his own set of karate poses, all of them hilariously bad.

 **Earl narrating:** "With the two of us forced to fight on our own, me and Randy knew it was do or die at that moment and we were both determined to show these space invaders what we were made of when push came to shove."

 **Scene Shown:** _The three drones ominously advancing on the brothers while Randy keeps making up random karate moves and cries while Earl slightly flinches in his own position._

 **Fight 2-2:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 _ **-**_ **Earl**

 **-Randy**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 _ **-**_ **3 freeze drones**

After the fight:

"Yeah! In your face…or whatever a robot has for a face!", Randy cheered after he watched the third and final drone hit the ground beaten and defeated. As he jumped up and down in celebration, Earl panted and glanced at the main entrance before saying, "Yeah. Sweet victory. Now let's get out of here and find somewhere safer." Randy suddenly stopped looking excited and exclaimed, "But Earl, all that fighting has made me thirsty and nobody is left watching the bar. Maybe we can get a couple of free drinks before we leave", "Now Randy", Earl replied as he grabbed Randy by the shirt and dragged him towards the main entrance, wondering what he and his brother had to face next.

( _read ahead to the next chapter now)_

 **Objective Failed:** (starts when time runs out during any of the three segments and the rouge drone manages to get to Earl)-

To Crabmans horror, the rouge drone ended up getting to Earl and Randy before he could throw enough knives to stop it. Swinging as hard as it could, the drone hit the Hickey brothers and sent Randy falling behind the counter while Earl landed on a table.

As the rouge drone then faced Earl and prepared to fire while the other two weapons kept attacking Joy, Crabman grabbed one of the knives he couldn`t throw and stabbed it right though its head. The drone immediately fell to the floor destroyed as Earl stumbled up groaning. "You okay Earl?", Crabman asked ducking as one of the two remaining drones started to fire at him. "I`m cool. After being hit by a car and getting into a coma twice it doesn`t actually hurt that bad. Is Randy okay?", Earl managed to call out through his pain as he limped over to the billiard table which had been flipped over at the start of the attack.

As Earl took cover, Crabman leaned over and noted Randy`s status. "He`s free from the TV but out cold. Could be a while before he wakes up", he called out to Earl. Before Earl could process all of this, Joy suddenly waddled over to her husband behind cover and grabbed him by the arm. "Come on Darnell. Time to get out of here. I don`t know how long Dodge and Earl Jr. will last without us", "What about Earl?", "Please. I`ve seen him get out of stickier scenarios when he did tasks for his karma list. I`m sure he can do us a favor and beat up those two thingamajigs. We move. Now."

Through his slight and temporary blurred vision, Earl watched Joy drag Crabman to the back of the Crabshack for the rear exit and muttered a swear word under his breath before noting the two drones were now firing at his cover and had already coated the billiard table in plenty of ice. As Earl quickly recovered all his senses and overheard Randy mumble slightly, he peered out a bit and made a quick note of the foes he had to fight.

 **Earl Narrating:** "Even though I was in pain from everything that happened today and scared that I was all alone, I knew I had to fight my way out of this if I wanted to make it out alive. So I mustered up all the stamina I could gather within me and made my move."

 **Scene shown:** _Earl takes a deep breath to let all the momentum get to him as his foes continue to fire before he lets out a yell and moves from his cover. As he advances on them and does a strange karate pose, the two drones stop firing and ominously advance on their target._ __

 **Fight 2-2** :

 _ **Fighters to select**_ **:**

- **Earl**

 _ **Opponents**_ :

- **2 freeze drones**

After the fight:

 **Earl narrating:** "By the time the fight was over, I was surprised that I managed to come out unscratched and not get turned into a popsicle. As Randy started to become fully conscious again, my priorities then changed from fighting to stay alive to getting the hell out of the place".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl is first shown after the fight starring in disbelief at his two defeated foes before he looks at his own fists, thinking of the damage he did and how strong he feels. Then, Randy is heard groaning and trying to get up from behind the bar, grabbing Earls complete attention as he rushes over._

"Ugh… Earl. You wouldn't believe this crazy dream I had. I was in the Crab Shack and there were these robots that came in and attacked everyone and Joy had a second head for some reason…", Randy exclaimed to his brother the moment he saw him.

As Earl reached his brother and boosted him up, Randy then got a clear look at the Crab Shack and saw the three destroyed drones as well as many ice patches coating the floor and walls. "Oh my God. It really happened. It wasn`t all a dream…wait, Earl...", he began to say in shock. "No Randy. Joy still has one head. But if we don`t get out of here soon enough we might lose ours. Let`s go", Earl quickly replied as he ushered Randy out from behind the bar and towards the front door into the unknown events taking place outside.


	10. My Name is Earl- Part 3

The moment Earl and Randy ran out of the Crab Shack was the moment that they realized the danger was in fact all around Camden. Everywhere the brothers looked, they saw Camdemites running away screaming in terror as the attacking drones fired at them. Those who failed to evade the blasts were frozen and then levitated into the sky where they promptly vanished. Quickly, the brothers hid behind an overturned car and watched the events in secret for another moment.

Looking urgently at his brother after taking it all in, Earl stated, "Come on Randy. We have to get my son, Earl Jr., Crabman and Joy and get out of town! Might be hard to find them in all this chaos". Glancing down the street, Randy`s eyes suddenly lit up as he exclaimed, "Hey, there`s Joy and Crabman", while pointing.

Looking in Randy`s direction, Earl also saw Joy and Crabman make their way down the street. Crabman managed to take out a lot of drones that confronted him with several well timed punches and kicks while Joy lingered back with her kit (while occasionally throwing her own punches as well if a foe got too close and nearly hit her).

"Already then. Lets get moving", Earl said after a moment of thought. As he stood up and made sure the coast was clear enough to move down the street (as a lot of the drones were moving the opposite direction to chase and freeze a large fleeing crowd), Randy let out a moan and complained, "I can`t believe we have to follow them to the trailer park. Why can`t we just go home or to that store that sells all those porno machines?", "Because Mom and Dad are in vacation in Hawaii and locked their home up tight and the other place closed last year thanks to that guy infecting it with smallpox. Besides, the trailer may work out as a safe hiding spot. It survived being turned over more than once as well as five tornados", Earl countered as he and Randy started to run.

As the two brothers evaded the blasts, Joy and Crabman made it to the end of the block and turned a corner. When they went out of sight, several more drones suddenly burst out of a nearby store in between the two groups, forcing Earl and Randy to stop and turn around. "New plan: rather than follow them on foot, we take the El Camino to get to the trailer!", Earl shouted over the shots that flew over his head. "I call shotgun!", Randy called out excitedly as he followed his brother.

 **Earl narrating:** "As me and Randy made our way back towards the car, everyone else in Camden was quickly getting frozen and picked off one by one. Some people tried to use their day jobs to save themselves."

 **Scene shown:** _The story cuts from Earl and Randy running down the street to Patty the daytime hooker, who is being chased by two drones down an ally firing at her. She is shown turning a corner and stopping upon reaching a dead end before turning to face her attackers._

As the two drones held up their freeze cannons, Patty intentionally loosened her bra a bit and whipped back her hair to appear sexier. "You know, I`m all into that sexy sci-fi stuff. How about we do a machine-human-machine threesome and then we go our separate ways?", she asked flirtingly. Without hesitation, the two drones blasted and froze her, leaving her to levitate into the sky and vanish.

 **Earl narrating:** "Others tried to keep their head down and stay calm under pressure."

 **Scene shown:** _The story cuts from the alley to the Camden gas station. As several drones enter the place and start blasting and freezing everyone, one of the employees named Iqball ducks behind the counter and tries to remain unseen._

As Iqball curled up behind the counter and heard the screams and blasts, he tried to convince himself that if he stayed put he would be in the clear soon enough. To his horror, one of the drones suddenly leaned over the counter and spotted him. In a monotone voice, Iqball managed to say, "I am totally freaking out", before he got frozen.

 **Earl narrating:** "Then there were those who tried to take the direct approach by running out of town".

 **Scene shown:** _The story transitions from Iqball to a police car driving towards the outskirts of Camden with several drones chasing and firing at it. A few of the blasts hit their target, stopping the vehicle dead in its tracks._

As soon as the police car stopped, all four doors flung open and officer Stewart Daniels and his boyfriend Kenny got out along with locals Willy the one eyed mailman and Didi the one legged woman. Willy and Didi were immediately frozenas they started to make a break for it while Stewart and Kenny got a bit lucky and managed to run a few yards. To their horror, several drones suddenly appeared in front of them from behind an abandoned trunk.

Realizing it was the end, Stewart pulled out his phone and asked the drones, "Can I take one last picture for my profile. I haven`t updated my blog in weeks", prompting Kenny to look at him in disbelief. "Seriously? Now you want to take a photo when we`re about to die?", "You know, you`re sounding just like your mother". The couple then found themselves frozen before their argument could get anywhere else.

 **Earl narrating:** "It was a miracle that Darnell and Joy managed to reach the trailer park without running into too many drones as well as not getting hit. However, as they neared home they didn`t realize something more sinister was waiting for them at their front door."

 **Scene shown:** _The scene cuts from Stewart and Kenny to Crabman and Joy reaching the entrance to their trailer park. As they make their way steadily towards their home, Joy drops her kit on her foot and lets out a bit of a holler._

"Shh…quiet. Don`t want any of those drones to overhear us", Crabman warned his wife urgently as she picked up the kit again with one hand while rubbing her foot with the other. "Oh, how`s your foot Joy? Fine, thanks for asking.", Joy replied mimicking her husband before answering in an uncharacteristically cheery voice. Crabman sighed and tried to apologize. Before he could though, Joy then fumbled with the kit a little and immediately asked, "By the way, what`s in this dang thing anyway?", "I told you earlier at the Crab Shack. It`s the bare basic survival necessities leftover from my witness protection days. Don`t open it just yet. Could lose something critical in the process amid all this chaos", Crabman replied before swatting Joys hand away from the latch as she kept prying at it. Biting her lip a bit in frustration, Joy retorted, "Well, I could use a weapon or something in this chaos. If you can throw knives like a circus act, I deserve something".

Before Crabman could then state that the weapon in the kit was too advanced for her to use due to her limited experience, the duo heard what sounded like a loud mysterious hum emit from what was probably the center of the park. "What the hell?", Joy exclaimed as Crabman squatted down and waddled his way to the source of the noise from cover to cover. He signaled Joy to follow and she did, all while still trying to open the kits stubborn latch.

As Joy and Crabman neared the source of the noise, they quickly realized that it was close to their trailer and sped up a bit, the safety of Joy`s sons on their mind. When they got near their trailer (which was miraculously intact amid several others around it that were knocked over and partially damaged) the duo jumped into an outdoor bathtub for cover before peering out. To their surprise, what they saw was a golden drone hovering close to their home. Unlike its generic comrades, this one was bigger and more menacing as it appeared to be more advanced based on its more limber movements.

As the duo continued to watch, they noted the humming noise was in fact coming from the drone itself as it appeared to be contacting someone far away. "Status report Alpha Destroyer Drone", a voice emitted from the drone's speakers. "Had trouble finding adequate signal in world until recently at current location. World 17650324403…", the golden drone responded in a monotone voice. As it continued to talk to the mystery person on the other end of the line, Joy glanced at her husband in confusion. "What is it doing? Listing a telephone number?", "Quiet. I`m trying to decipher what`s really happening", Crabman replied as the golden drone kept talking.

"…03 is approximately 88% neutralized. Starting preparations for transportation to next world", the golden drone stated, wrapping up its report. "No no no no no. I need you to stay here until at least 97% of the world's population has been neutralized. I assume you will be able to command your army to that quota before the countdown. I included some extra time due to the bigger size of this world", the voice on the other end ordered. "Understood. Status of Beta Destroyer?", "Curious about your co-drone leader, huh? Well, it`s already taken down four whole worlds and basically annihilated everyone who came into its path (no big lose). You may still be on your second world, but I guarantee you will have the chance to catch up soon enough".

Crabman and Joy both ducked as the drones field of vision swept past their cover, barely keeping out of sight. As she felt her heartbeat increase a bit Joy silently hissed in confusion, "Countdown? Worlds to conquer? Another one of those more advanced machines running around out there somewhere? Someone had better give me answers as to what`s going on". Crabmans eyes suddenly widened in horror as he let all his information he collected sink in. "Oh-no. My worst theory has come true as to what is happening", "Worst theory?", Joy asked as she began to try and open the kit more urgently than before.

 _ **Flashback (Shortly before the drone attack at the Crab Shack)**_

 **Earl narrating:** "During the time me and Randy were still at the Crab Shack, Crabman had went to the back to get something that he thought could help out with the emergency taking place all around us."

 **Scene shown:** _A repeat of the scene from the previous chapter that shows Crabman signaling Joy to follow him into the back. As it continues to play, a new perspective is shown as it cuts to the empty back kitchen with Crabman rushing to a nearby counter._

"Darnell, just what are you doing? After what I saw on that TV, I`m already starting to feel apprehensive", Joy sternly stated as she watched her husband crouch down and pry at one of the edges of solid metal. To her surprise, it ended up coming loose and revealed a hidden compartment. In that compartment was what looked like a fair sized kit. As he pulled it out and set it on the counter, Crabman replied casually, "Some of my gear from my agent days. With this stuff inside, we could make it through any crisis", "Crisis? Will you stop being vague and just tell me what is going on? I`m this close to…", Joy began when the sound of metal footprints were heard from the Crab Shacks open rear door.

Facing the source of the sound, Crabman raised his fists and cautiously approached the noise to investigate while Joy leaned her head towards the bar entrance. It sounded like the scumbag Ralph Mariano was back in town.

When Crabman peered out from behind a huge freezer and into the narrow view of the alleyway, he noted what looked like four robots carrying something shaped like an orb that had a beeping sound coming from it. As the four machines set it down, a lot of chaos and blasting noises were suddenly heard from within the bar.

"Oh snap! Darnell!", Joy yelled. Crabman took one last look at the mystery orb and quickly observed a set of numbers before he sprinted back to his wife. When he got to her, he noticed that she had grabbed the kit and was looking around for anywhere to run. "I saw a few people get frozen inside the Crab Shack like the TV broadcast. Whatever happened onscreen is happening here. Come on, we can climb out that window in the employee bathroom. Don`t think anyone will see us leave from there", she quickly explained.

Before Crabman could say anything, he suddenly heard Randy scream from the bar about his face getting stuck to the TV. "Oh no! Randy!", he exclaimed in terror sprinting back towards the bar. Looking confused and irritated, Joy exclaimed, "Come back here Darnell! This isn`t your problem! Darnell!", as she followed him.

 _ **Present Time**_

As Crabman finished telling Joy about what he saw in the Crab Shack alley, Joy could only look at him with her mouth agape. "Sweet baby Jesus. You`re telling me that there`s a bomb planted right next to your place of work?", "I didn`t get a good look at it, but from what I could tell those four machines were setting something dangerous down. It seems like someone is plotting to wipe off Camden from the map, if not the whole world", Crabman replied.

Before Joy could say anything to that with a clear thought, the duo suddenly heard a scream from the trailer and immediately looked out of cover again. The babysitter Joy left with her kids before heading to the Crab Shack had sprinted out of the trailer screaming that the world had in fact ended in the 2000`s. The golden drone immediately spotted him and let out a blast, freezing the man.

As the babysitter levitated into the sky, Crabman suddenly saw the curtains to the trailers living room move aside, with two young faces peering out to watch what happened in fear. "Look, the kids. They`re still with alive", he whispered to Joy urgently. Dodge and Earl Jr. also spotted their mother and father figure outside and without thinking they started to loudly bang the glass and shout for help. This turned the golden drone's attention to them.

When Joy and Crabman saw the drone raise both arms and prepare to blast a huge electric shot directly at the boys inside, the duo found themselves sprinting out of the bathtub to attack with their parental instinct kicking in. The golden drone detected them as the blast was ready to go off and started to turn to aim at them instead. This proved to be a mistake as it didn`t hit directly anything with the discharged blast.

As the blast made contact on the ground between the duo and the trailer, Joy and Crabman found themselves flung back in an explosion of dust with the kit flying out of Joys hand into a nearby overturned car while parts of the trailers wall basically blew off. As the dust cleared, Joy and Crabman quickly looked up to see Dodge and Earl Jr. were alright but also huddled together in a corner terrified.

Out of the corner of her eye, Joy suddenly noticed the kit had been broken open and all its contents had spilled out. Amid packets of dehydrated food and a huge foldout map of the area was something that caught her attention immediately. "A gun! Jackpot!", Joy declared crawling quickly to it as the golden drone had its vision cleared from the dust. Noticing Joy and the weapon she was crawling for, it aimed at her while Crabman dodged from its blast zone.

Quickly, Joy rolled out of the way from an icy blast and grabbed the gun. As she stood up, she fired a shot that felt strange for a pistol while making the golden drone move back quickly to avoid taking damage. As she saw Crabman get up and prepare to rush to her aid, Joy held up a hand to stop him before glaring at the golden drone. "Stand down Darnell. This one is mine", she sternly said while cocking the gun a bit.

"Then hurry Joy! Fire again!", Crabman shouted to his wife as he saw the golden drone quickly recover and prepare another attack, feeling it was too risky at the moment to run into the center of the fight. Simultaneously, Joy and the golden drone pointed their weapons at each other and prepared to fire.

 **Prompt: Square button**

 **Hit in time-** _Joy managed to pull the trigger first. Unlike the first shot she let off, she noticed this time that a laser beam flew out of her weapon and struck the golden drone, making it fly back a bit. As it quickly recovered and Joy braced herself for the next move it would do, she could not help but examine her weapon in awe. "Darnell, where did you get this?", she asked. "Leftover memento from my secret agent days", Crabman replied without taking his eyes off the Golden Drone._

 **Failed to press-** _Before Joy could pull the trigger on her gun, the golden drone managed to fire first and hit its target. Joy felt what could best be described as a pile of bricks hitting her gut and knocking the wind out of her. As she almost hit the ground on her knees while clutching her stomach, Joy also pulled the trigger on her gun instinctively sending off a small set of laser blasts around her foe that prevented it from attacking right away. "Darnell? You had a laser gun in the Crab Shack all along?", Joy asked quickly recovering on stamina and getting ready for the next attack. "Hey, when one used to be a secret agent, one gets to keep a few cool things as a souvenir", Crabman could only reply._ ( **Joy: -5% health** )

The golden drone had apparently been able to emote a feeling of becoming enraged due to the fact that this target (unlike all his others) had managed to outlast capture longer than it was used to despite its best efforts. Determined to take down Joy this time as her sons and husband watched from a safe distance, it aimed at her face and torso and fired. Joy sprinted forward towards the shots with her own weapon raised as well, intending to make an impact on the smart robot.

 **Prompt- X button, Square button**

 **Hit in time-** _With the skills of a Western gunslinger, Joy managed to evade the blasts with ease before firing her own two shots at the golden drone. As the blasts hit it, Dodge and Earl Jr. both let out a cheer while the foe in front of their mom stuttered a bit yet quickly recovered. "Ye-haw", Joy could only say, fully ready for the next attack._ **(Golden drone: (At this point, subtract 5% of its health every time Joy passed a QTE moment)**

 **Failed to press-** _Unfortunately for Joy, she ended up mistiming her move to counter the two blasts as they both hit her right where the golden drone aimed. Dodge and Earl Jr. could only wince in horror as they watched their mom hit the ground dazed. Before she could get frozen, a chair thrown by Crabman to distract her foe allowed Joy to get up and keep fighting. "Maybe I can help", Crabman quickly offered. "Stand back Darnell. Now this is personal", Joy quickly dismissed glaring at the golden drone with more revenge on her mind now._ **(Joy: -10% health)**

The moment the golden drone let out its next attack, Joy knew that it was one was a big one based on the momentums of the blasts. In what felt like slow motion, she fiddled with a tiny lever on the side of her laser weapon and prepared to fire with all it could give.

 **Prompt: X button, triangle button, X button**

 **Hit in time-** " _Bang! Bang! and Boom! Gotcha!", Joy cheered as she quickly fired all three blasts steadily at her foe before evading all shots taken at her. As the golden drone spun around trying to get its bearings, Joy did a short and funny victory dance while firing two more blasts in the air to gloat._ **(Golden Alpha Destroyer drone: If all three QTE sections succeeded, the foe loses 20% of its health in the next fight as a bonus for precision)**

 **Failed to press-** _Before Joy could fire her upgraded weapon, the three shots hit her hard. One hit her in the chest, the next hit her in the shoulder and the last one hit the ground in front of her, sending her briefly flying into the air. As she flew, she managed to randomly fire a stray blast close to the drone which caused it to spin a bit to avoid taking any damage. Crabman and the boys all winced as Joy hit the ground hard, with Crabman almost ready to run to Joy`s aid. They all then looked relived as they watched her quickly get up and grit her teeth with determination. All the adrenaline in her was helping out in this situation._ **(Joy: -15% health)**

As the golden drone managed to stop spinning from the last blast fired at it, Joy aimed again and pulled the trigger. To her shock, the laser gun fell apart in her hands as if it were a cheap plastic toy. "Darnell, what the hell just happened?", she exclaimed as her husband ran over to her, ready to fight this time after seeing his foe in action a bit. "The weapon you had was only a prototype, not ready for field testing. I was going to work on improving it, but I was so busy with work and everything else in life that it slipped my mind", Crabman quickly explained.

The duo suddenly avoided several blasts the golden drone fired as Dodge and Earl Jr. could only watch in fear while screaming for their parents. As one blast barely missed her cheek, Joy cracked her knuckles and loudly declared, "Don`t worry boys. Mommas gonna kick robot ass and then we`ll be getting the H-E-double hockey sticks outta town! Let's have at it Darnell!", "Yeah! Time to show this gold tin can what we can do!", Crabman boasted before the duo managed to move in close enough to start throwing their punches. As the fight really got intense between the two humans and the machine, Dodge and Earl Jr. slowly emerged from the corner and started to cheer loudly.

 **Fight 2-3:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Joy**

 **-Darnell "Crabman"**

 _ **Opponent:**_

 **-The Golden Alpha Destroyer Drone**

After the fight:

A few seconds after Joy and Crabman threw their last punch at the drone, it stumbled back and hit the ground in a heap, emitting the strange humming noise one last time. "Yes! We did it Darnell! We fought a space invader and won!", "I gotta say, that was intense, I thought I was going to finally meet my maker during the scuffle", Crabman commented as Dodge and Earl Jr. both got up and ran to the duo, excited about the fight and happy the danger was apparently gone.

However, the four ended up getting completely caught off guard when the Golden Drone suddenly moved again and fired icy blasts at random locations. Joy let out a cry of shock and managed to evade with Crabman, but Dodge and Earl Jr. turned out to be not so lucky. As they screeched to a halt from the surprise attack, they both got hit and frozen solid. "No! My boys!", "My technically kids!", Joy and Crabman exclaimed. Before they could run to them, the Golden Alpha Destroyer Drone then lunged forward and grabbed the duo by the necks, lifting them up from the ground.

As she and Crabman struggled to free themselves, Joy could only watch in horror as her two sons levitated into the sky and vanished. Glaring at the golden drone as it slowly strangled her, Joy managed to loudly proclaim, "You monster! I swear I`ll give you hell for rapturing my kids!", while kicking as hard as she could.

Out of nowhere, the Golden Drone emitted the other voice heard earlier. "No! My Alpha Destroyer! The readings are haywire! No wonder some invasion task forces are lagging in their attacks!", "Listen- I don`t know who the hell you are but the minute I get my hands on you I (gasp) get my hands on you I-", Joy declared as she and Crabmans faces began to turn blue. As their struggles to get out of the machines suffocating grip became more futile, the voice from the other end let out an ominous laugh. "Creative choice of words", was said before the golden drone flung Joy and Crabman aside like rag dolls.

Joy and Crabman both gasped in air and recovered their strength as the other voice connected to the golden drone continued to examine the machine from afar. "Damn it! Looks like things may be out of repair. I can`t picture this hunk of junk carrying out all the planned programs without too many setbacks. Oh, those two really put a dent in things. I guess I`ll retaliate by taking them out with extreme measure", "Extreme measure? Say what now?", Joy asked in confusion before the Golden Alpha Destroyer Drone let out another odd signal.

As the signal steadily got louder, the duo watched the golden drone rise into the air while all the trailers began to shake. "Golden Alpha Destroyer Drone, as your last order I want you to crush these two lowlifes like bugs before you deprogram yourself. I`ll be able to find something to replace you in the near future", "Understood", the drone replied to the other voice before it let out a big electric blast.

Joy and Crabman were thrown several yards back into the dust again as the trailers moved past them, breaking into pieces as they reached the golden drone and forming into a menacing shape. Recovering his senses first, Crabman managed to get up first and lifted a mildly dazed Joy off the ground, as her head caught the most impact from the toss. "Hurry! We need to get out of here!", "Why the rush babe? We can just hunker down at home or something`", Joy replied. A shadow fell over the couple making Crabman gulp as he looked up nervously.

It appeared that the drone had created a giant mechanical robot out of all the trailer pieces with it in the center and colored gold. Materials from the former homes fell to the ground as multiple sparks lashed out. "Not that I intend to make a bad pun, but I`m afraid that it looks like home is about to attack us", Crabman managed to say before the giant drone/trailer monster hybrid made a move. As it brought a "hand" down on the duo, Joy and Crabman screamed and sprinted away as fast as they could, barely avoiding being crushed. Seeing this, the mecha hybrid starting to go after them.

As she struggled a bit to keep up with Crabman, Joy glanced back a bit to see the golden foe chasing her and exclaimed, "Where do we go?", in a huge panic. "Just keep moving and we might get lucky", Crabman could only reply as he started heading down the path he used to get to the trailer park. Feeling she was too frantic to argue about that idea, Joy simply nodded and followed.


	11. My Name is Earl- Part 4

**Earl narrating:** "While Joy and Darnell were running for their lives, me and Randy were heading towards the trailer park thinking it was still in its normal state. Lucky for both of us, we got to our car without any hassle, except for the moment where Randy had stopped to take a golf ball machine that some lotter had dropped".

 **Scene shown:** _The story cuts from the ending scene of the last chapter with Joy and Crabman running from the trailer monster to Earl driving his El Camino down a mostly abandoned dirt road. As he makes his way to the park, he is shown glancing into the back where Randy and the golf ball machine are._

"Seriously Randy? Why did you even take that thing with us at a time like this? We don`t even need a golf ball machine", Earl exclaimed in disbelief as he thought of the close call he and his brother had trying to get the machine into the cars backseat. Had he not moved fast enough when a bunch of drones came, odds were that he and Randy would have been frozen and gone.

"Come on Earl, I always wanted a golf ball machine. It`s just so cool how the pipe at the end shoots the balls so fast into the air. I might not get the chance to see something like that again if the world really does end", Randy answered excitedly as he patted the machine, trying to find the on switch.

Thinking for a moment, Earl stated, "You know, I think you`ve told me that you wanted a golf ball machine before. Was that on your bucket list or something?", "Yes it was. I wanted to use a golf ball machine, dance under a disco ball, get blasted by a confetti cannon, eat some cannoli at a fancy Italian place…", Randy excitedly began to list.

Earls concentration from the road drifted away a bit as he listened in on what his brother had to say. That came back in full swing when an odd flash suddenly appeared on the road up ahead. As he nearly stopped his car, Earl watched in disbelief at what looked like an old man on a bike appear out of thin air. The old man waved at Earl as he pedaled past his car (to which Earl awkwardly replied with the same gesture) before another strange flash had him vanish in midair.

For a few moments, Earl didn`t speak as he tried to process exactly who and what he just saw while Randy got to the part of his list that involved owning a pet tarantula and writing an 800-page story about his experiences. Then, another unexpected surprise took their minds off the random events. A short but strong set of tremors made the car wobble a bit every five seconds. "Make the car stop shaking Earl. I wanna continue to mention my bucket list. I didn`t even get to the part that involves the action figures made out of candy", Randy exclaimed as Earl tried to make the car go steadier down the path. "It`s not me Randy. Something outside is causing this…son of a bitch. What the heck is that?", Earl exclaimed suddenly seeing the golden drone/trailer monster appear over the horizon.

As he noted it was coming his way, Randy leaned forward and exclaimed in horror, "It`s like Godzilla but made up of trailers…Trailer-zilla! AHHH!" Earl hit the brakes and made the car do a 180 degree turn. Before he could accelerate, he then heard someone shout his name and peered outside just in time to see Joy and Crabman run up to him.

"Earl! Thank goodness you came!", Crabman exclaimed as he dove into the passenger seat while Joy squeezed her way into the back with Randy and the golf ball machine. As soon Earl saw both of his friends were in, he started to drive off quickly with Trailer-zilla now chasing the car.

"What the heck is going on outside? Where are the boys?", Earl asked as he tried to focus on both the road and the trailer monster behind him. Joy and Crabmans faces immediately became grim before Joy sadly stated, "We were too late. Let our guard down back there at the worst possible time. They`re gone". "No", Randy could only murmur in dread while Earl punched his car horn several times in frustration. "Damn! Damn! Damn! Now what do we do?", he exclaimed.

Glancing back and noting that Trailer-zilla had gotten a lot closer Crabman answered, "How about finding a way to take out the trailer monster? That`s probably the best idea". Looking back again, Joy and Randy saw that Trailer-zilla indeed got closer and let out a huge scream of panic. In that panic, Randy flailed him arms around and accidently hit a switch on the golf ball machine. To Joys surprise, she saw the ball fly out of the machine through the window and into the center of the monster, making it stumble back a split second.

"Dummy, you just gave me a bright idea. Move over!", she exclaimed as she got into positon behind the machine. "Joy, what are you doing?", Earl asked as he glanced at Joy a bit before swerving to avoid some debris. "Simple. I`m going to blast Trailer-zilla with some balls and break that thing into pieces!", Joy aggressively stated as she tried to take aim amid the swerving. "Wait, you`re going to attack that thing with a lot of golf balls?", Crabman asked, trying to wrap his head around how surreal and crazy the plan was. "You got any other ideas? Cause firing white pelts at that thing is literally a better plan than just waiting to be squished into road kill (that is if that bomb blast don`t get us first)", Joy retorted making Earl suddenly look confused and alarmed.

"Wait wait wait. Bomb? What`s she talking about Crabman?", Earl asked as Joys words also made Randy (who wasn`t fully paying attention to the chatter) suddenly look excited.

 **Earl narrating:** "As Darnell gave me the information on the stuff that he knew and that I didn`t, Randy was suddenly recalling an experience he had not too long ago. An experience with an anthro cup in a video game".

 **Scene shown:** _Crabman talking to Earl while making a few gestures in the front seat before it focuses more on Randy in the back. As he continues to look out with some excitement, music from the Cuphead game can be heard playing._

Crabman finished explaining everything to Earl as Randy lowered the window next to him. "So we have less than an hour? Crap. Joy, you ready to open fire?", Earl called to the back. Leaning forward, Joy used one of her shoes to smash the rest of the rear window away before cocking the golf ball machine and declaring that she was indeed ready.

"Good! Randy, we need you to…Randy!?", Earl exclaimed before he spotted his brother climb out of the window and onto the cars rooftop. As soon as Randy got to the top of the car and adjusted his balance, he glared at Trailer-zilla and against his fears he managed to make a pose that involved a finger pointed at the monster.

"Randy? What are you doing? Get back in before you get yourself killed!", Earl shouted from inside the car. "Aw, let him have his fun Earl. If he dies at least he`ll go out happy (which is more than I can say for half my relatives)", Joy managed to say before she started to fire at Trailer-zilla while yelling "DIE!", at the top of her lungs.

As Earl did his best to avoid swerving too much for Randy's sake, Randy's imagination had his surroundings change from real life to a 1930`s cartoon. Everything from himself to Trailer-zilla now looked like it fit with the game he was fantasizing about and as he flicked his wrists he imagined that the shots came from his hand rather than Joy and the machine below him. Off-screen, an excited narrating voice exclaimed: " **This match is red hot!"** followed by a WALLOP! Popup as Randy continued to fire at Joys pace.

 **Mini-game #4: Cuphead in My Name is Earl Land**

 _ **Objective: Joy/Randy must fire enough ammo at Trailer-zilla in order to destroy it and survive. As more shots are fired, the greater the danger of taking damage is. Destroy the foe before the car gets hit too many times.**_

 _ **Controls:**_

 _ **-L stick: Move Randy/Joy`s line of fire to target location**_

 _ **R2 button/X button: Fire golf balls**_

 _ **L2: Use power up after one is collected**_

 _ **Advice**_ _ **:**_

- _ **As Trailer-zilla takes more damage, projectiles from the trailers it`s made up of will start to fall off it and potentially hit the car. Shooting them enough times before they land on the ride is key to beating it without taking a lot of damage. Also note that not all the falling projectiles will fall towards the car, so keep a note of what`s a threat.**_

 _ **-Like the mini-game in Keeping Up Appearances, Earl`s driving may affect the players aim at some points.**_

 _ **-Two forms of power ups are available in the game: El Camino invincibility and Rapid golf ball fire. The invincibility makes Earl`s car immune to anything he might hit on the road temporary and causes him to drive more straight while the rapid fire makes Joys/Randy`s attacks come out faster, potentially offering more damage in a short amount of time.**_

 _ **\- Where the shots land on the foe is key to dishing out damage. Hitting the center of the monster when the area isn`t blocked is the best spot.**_

After the game is beat:

 **Earl narrating:** "To everyone's surprise, Joy`s idea actually worked. I guess it was lucky for the four of us that the trailers made up of Trailer-Zilla wern`t in their prime condition and essentially needed a few hits from golf balls to fall apart".

 **Scene shown:** _Trailer-zilla started to fall down thanks to all the damage that Joy gave it. As it hit the ground in a heap and defeated for good, everyone let out a victory cheer while Randy`s vision came back to the real world. Excitedly, he blew his hand as if it were the barrel of the smoking gun and did a funny victory pose._

Earl began to slow down the car for Randy when out of nowhere, the heap of trailers exploded (thanks to the remaining core of the Golden Drone finally breaking apart from the fall). "Holy shit!", Joy exclaimed ducking behind the car seat while Randy fell on his back and desperately grabbed the roof. Earl sped up again and swerved again to avoid a few pieces of flying trailer parts that nearly squashed the car. As one of those pieces crashed close to the passenger door, Crabman glanced out in dismay and exclaimed, "There goes our home".

When he noticed no more debris was flying at the car, Randy knocked loudly on the car roof with a free hand and yelled, "Earl! Stop the car! Stop!", as he felt himself steadily begin to slide off. Hearing him, Earl slammed the breaks with all his might which sent his brother flying ahead. Randy hit the road tumbling a few yards before he stopped as his brother, Crabman and Joy then exited the car.

"Randy!?", Earl exclaimed in fear running to him. As he reached his brother, Randy let out a groan and slowly sat up. Squatting down, Earl worriedly asked, "Are you okay? Nothings broken, is it?", "No. I don`t think so. Though my butt kinda feels sore", Randy answered as he awkwardly stood up.

As he stretched a bit, Randy then looked around and asked, "Do you know where we are anyway? I forgot to see where we were going while I was shooting at the boss", prompting Joy to give him a confused look. Earl was the first to notice that the group made it back to the heart of Camden with his current residence, the Camden Motel, just down the road.

Clearing his throat, Crabman addressed the other three in front of him. "Listen, I know what we went through was intense but at the very least we need to leave Camden. I`m sure we all know the reason too well at this point". Joy and Earl suddenly felt the danger of the area again and quickly sprinted for the car with Crabman and a confused Randy following in the back.

As she opened the backdoor and got in, Joy looked at the golf ball machine in dismay upon realizing it was empty. "Crap. Looks like we`ve got nothin` to fight with if Trailer-zilla shows up again for a crappy sequel. Guess we`re going to have to rely on our bare instincts to survive at this point", she said aloud before shoving the machine out onto the road, breaking it much to Randy`s horror.

Earl started the El Camino and begun to head down the road. "If we`re lucky, we might reach the closest exit in ten minutes. Doesn't seem like a lot of those invading drones are left", he replied noting how he only saw two drones far off as well as no other Camdenmites in the area. However, the escape plan immediately came apart when the El Camino suddenly made a funny noise and stopped right in front of the motel.

"No! Not now! Out of all the times to finally break down, not now!", Earl exclaimed in shock as he turned the keys in the ignition and basically got nothing. After watching him fail to start the car again for a moment, Joy let out a frustrated sigh and stated, "Well that`s just great. Guess we`ll have to walk away from the danger with a low risk of survival and with aching feet" while Randy glanced at the motel and looked like he had an idea.

"Maybe we don`t have to. Our rooms not that far away from here. Maybe we can just hide there and watch cartoons and wait for the whole crisis to pass", he excitedly stated as he and his allies exited the car. Giving Randy an irritated look, Joy exclaimed, "Unless your room has an infection free hot tub, fancy flat screen TV, another room with my boys safe and sound and a lot of thick walls that can take a powerful bomb blast, then yes, it is a bright idea. On the other hand, being blown away in the fallout while watching Tom & Jerry would be an excellent way to go".

What Joy said suddenly made Randy look alarmed. "Wait a minute? There`s a bomb here in Camden? Why didn`t any of you tell me?", he exclaimed sounding more panicked by the second. "I was trying to tell you both in the car earlier but you went on the roof", Crabman explained, which made Randy look around in a twitching frenzy.

Earl realized his brother was about to have a huge panic attack and walked over to calm him down. While he struggled with finding something calming to say, he noticed for the first time that several drones were in the parking lot of the motel and apparently firing at a single door on the lower floor. As he tried more desperately to calm Randy down, Earl`s efforts failed as his brother let out a scream of fear, getting plenty of the drone's attention.

"Son of a bitch. You all take cover!", Joy exclaimed grabbing Earl and Crabman and shoving them behind the El Camino with her while Randy began to run down the block screaming. Lucky for the trio, the five drones who came their direction spotted Randy first and went after him while firing all the way down the street, with Randy prancing and stumbling to avoid the blasts. Earl, Crabman and Joy didn`t move until they felt the chasing drones were a safe distance away. At that moment, the prime fear left their minds and Crabmans instinct to do something about the event kicked in. Without a word, he got up and began to go after Randy. "Darnell? What the hell are you doing?", Joy exclaimed as she and Earl partially stood up, keeping half an eye on the remaining drones in the parking lot still attacking the single room.

"I`m going to help Randy. We already lost the boys and many of our friends. I`ll be damned if I see anyone else I care about get turned into a popsicle!", Crabman called back before Randy, the perusing drones and himself turned a corner and vanished. At that moment, Earl attempted to follow but Joy held him back aggressively. "No you don`t. I`m not about to be left here alone with all these drones around while you get yourself blasted. Besides, Darnell knows more than a few tricks to situations like these. He`ll be back with that dumbass before you know it", she harshly whispered, making Earl give up his desire to join the chase. He felt it wouldn't be worth the risk aggravating Joy at a time like this. Plus, she did have a point about Crabman and his ability to get in and out of risky situations quickly.

"Okay then, what do we do now? There`s probably still plenty of drones all around us we can`t see", Earl replied pointing to the remaining three drones for emphasis. Looking around for any other safe options and ultimately finding none, Joy let out a sigh and stated, "It looks like you and me are going to sneak over and take cover in your motel room after all, considering your brother basically made it easier to sneak by undetected. It`ll at least be a better place than out here to stay put until Darnell and Randy get back", prompting Earl to look nervously at the three drones blasting at the room.


	12. My Name is Earl- Part 5

As soon as he felt the cost was clear, Earl moved quietly for his motel room with Joy behind him. The drones didn`t notice him as he made his way closer to the stairs leading to the second floor, which was not too far from them. When he got to the stairs, Earl paused for a moment to observe the enemy before signaling Joy to follow him. Then, as if he were walking on glass, he made his way up one step at a time. Joy did her best to mimic him as she followed with dread.

 **Earl narrating:** "The plan to get by all the danger and into the motel room sounded like a simple idea. However, a cry for help made things change as I got near the second floor".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl and Joy steadily moving up the stairs with each move forward making them nearly wince in fear as they keep looking down at the drones, fearing their next move would be the one where they get spotted. As Earl reaches the second floor and starts to look relived, he hears a cry from the room the drones are attacking, making a look of terror appear on his face._

"Oh-no. Catalina. I can`t believe we forgot all about her", Earl exclaimed before he slipped by Joy and started going back down. "Earl, get back here", Joy exclaimed in frustration. When she realized he wouldn`t she let off an annoyed sigh and followed him, knowing he had the keys to the room and wouldn`t give them to her without some help first.

 **Earl narrating:** "And while me and Joy were making our way to Catalina`s aid, Catalina was doing her best to keep the drones from getting to her".

 **Scene shown:** _The story transitions from Joy moving back down the stairs to Catalina in the motel room under heavy attack. She is leaning against the door with a pile of furniture and slowly losing the battle as every attack nearly knocks her back. One of the chairs she`s using falls off the pile and breaks, much to her own frustration._

As Catalina tried to lean forward to grab the broken chair pieces, one of the drones outside dashed forward and rammed the door, nearly knocking the whole barrier down in one swoop. While she used her stamina to keep the door closed and the remains of her defense standing, Catalina then let out a cry of despair. Her mind drifted back to the events leading up to this moment. After she had left the Crab Shack, she returned to her job and had just barely begun to clean the room she was in when the drones came and basically froze everyone else staying here. Her instincts told her to run, but before she could two of the drones in the lot had spotted and fired at her, forcing her to hunker down with only the basic motel essentials. She thought the sinister foes would leave soon enough, but no they did not. Instead, if felt like more and more were showing up and attacking, solely to get her. The walls around the door felt cold and started to crash and her once decent defense was now a pile of rubble.

Catalina tried not to let her mind think it, but she thought now about how much time she had left before the drones burst in. She felt no hero would come in and save her and that nearly made her give up and back away from the barrier as another slam attack damaged it some more. "I can`t believe I`m not actually the first person in my family tree to die in a motel room. Talk about zany", Catalina found herself muttering as the third ram attack chipped away bits of the wall, giving her a small view of her three attackers as they persisted with their attack.

Knowing she was hanging on by a thread at this point, Catalina closed her eyes and waited for the final killing blow. Out of nowhere, she heard a faint shout outside which stopped the attacks and slowly opened her eyes. "What the…", she muttered in Spanish before walking forward to peer outside.

To her surprise, she saw Earl and Joy not too far away shouting and throwing debris at the three drones, taking all the attention off the room and her. Her relief quickly turned to panic when she realized that her rescuers were now the ones who were in peril as the drones opened fire on them. "Hang on! I`m coming!", Catalina shouted.

Outside, Joy and Earl zigzagged randomly across the parking lot as the three drones kept shooting at them, moving steadily closer. "Way to go dummy! We could have been safe and sound in your motel room, but no. You just had to go and save your former illegal immigrant friend, didn`t you?", Joy scoffed. "I couldn`t leave her! I had to do something!", Earl responded as the duo found themselves backing into a nearby wall. One of the blasts fired managed to hit Joy in the arm, freezing it to the wall and leaving her pinned to it like an animal caught in a trap.

"EARL!", Joy screamed in desperation as she tugged with all her might, watching all three drones now aim at her. Before Earl could react to anything, the door behind the drones got kicked open and Catalina sprinted out with a lamp. She slammed the closest one with it and while the other two drones shifted targets again, Earl quickly grabbed Joys arm and together the duo pulled it free, though it was still encased in ice. At that point, Catalina had run a few circles around the drones and evaded the blasts before she approached the duo. "Hey Earl. Glad you`re back. Where`s Randy", "Oh the usual. Running for his life from something", Earl replied as he lead the trio away from the wall and near the center of the parking lot, with the drones hovering after them.

"Hey you two, forget to formalities and kick those things behinds for me", "For you? Aren`t you going to help out?", Earl asked as he stopped and moved to the left to avoid a huge blast with Catalina while Joy started to back away from him. "Ooh, sorry but I need to thaw out my arm which is curtesy to your stupid plan. Any hot water nearby Catalina?", Joy asked as Catalina picked up a chair from the pool laying close by and flung it at the closest drone, preventing a shot at her. "I think the manager has this new birdbath behind the motel. It`s painted so dark that it`s like a boiling pot. Several birds got roasted in there along with an ostrich when it escaped the local zoo two weeks ago. That was one crazy day", Catalina responded as she and Earl dodged a set of blasts.

Nodding, Joy sprinted away leaving Earl and Catalina to face the two drones by themselves. Shaking his head in disbelief, Earl exclaimed, "That woman sure is something. Out of all the times to stay out of a fight when our odds are already down", "She might need to stay out of this judging by the state of her hand. Anyway, enough talk. Let's put these pieces of scrap down for good", Catalina declared as she moved in for a counter attack.

 **Earl narrating:** "Catalina was right. What we needed to focus on was ending the three attacking drones. Mustering all I could, I went over to once again kick ass".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl quickly contemplates Catalina`s words before he nods briefly and goes after her to join in on the fight._

 **Fight 2-4:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Earl**

 **-Catalina**

 _ **Opponent:**_

 **-3 Ice Drones**

After the fight:

The last drone hit the ground defeated, prompting Catalina to let out a victory cheer. "Long live us cause we`re epic!", she yelled in Spanish. "What?", Earl asked in confusion. "Nothing important. See though, I knew the two of us could take them!", Catalina declared before kicking one of the defeated drones in the head giddily.

As Earl and Catalina walked away from the three drones, Joy appeared before them with her hand no longer frozen. "Heh, like dipping it in a hot tub", she exclaimed showing said hand to the duo like a model. "That`s great Joy, but now`s not the time to show off. We need to leave this place", Earl stated glancing back at the drones one last time.

Trying not to let her frustration show, Joy retracted her hand and stated, "Fine. We`ll just find a nearby car to hotwire or something. Figure if you two can beat some odds against you in a brawl then that means a riskier plan is okay for me to go by. By the way, did you see Crabman or Randy pass by again while I was gone by chance?"

"No. Think that they`re still okay?", Earl asked suddenly feeling worried about his brother again. Based on the time and skills Crabman had, he should have been back with his brother alive and well by now. "How the hell should I know? I`m not aware of everything my man does. Heck, I didn`t know his name was Harry for years", Joy exclaimed. "Okay, forget the car. The three of us should go find my brother and Crabman. After that, the five of us can leave town together", Earl stated.

Before any of the three could react to the plan, a strange noise emitted in the air. "Oh…snap…", Joy exclaimed looking up to the sky to see what she could best describe as a mushroom cloud made of electricity.

 **Earl narrating:** "We were all so busy fighting drones and trying to stay alive that everyone who knew about the bomb near the Crab Shack lost track of time. It was obvious the countdown had reached zero".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl, Joy and Catalina looking up in horror at the approaching electric wave before screaming and running into the streets. As the trio try to get away as fast as they can, R.E.M`s song "It`s the End of the World" plays in the background._

 **Earl narrating:** "And as the three of us ran for our lives, it turns out that Darnell and Randy were not too far away unfrozen. However, they did have another problem going on".

 **Scene shown:** _The story transitions from the trio running with bolts of electricity striking close by them to a pile of destroyed drones farther down the street. Next to those drones is Crabman who is trying to pull Randy`s head free from the bottom latch of a soda machine. Both men are so preoccupied the noise from the blast doesn`t seem to get their attention._

"Ow!", Randy exclaimed as Crabman pulled him by the neck. "You know, I can`t believe you could get stuck like this diving for cover", Crabman exclaimed as he ignored Randy`s cries of pain and focused on trying to get his friend unstuck. That focus paid off quickly as another tug got Randy freed, sending both men falling on their backs.

As he and Crabman quickly got up, Randy exclaimed, "It`s not my fault. Those drones were exploding as you took them out one by one and I didn`t want to get hit", "Well, you have a point. Sorta", Crabman replied before brushing some dust off his jeans. Just as he was about to get the last speck off, a lightning bolt struck the ground in front of him and made Crabman jump back in surprise. "What the heck?", Randy exclaimed, unable to fully process just happened.

Suddenly noticing the sounds and distant screams in front of them, the duo looked up and became petrified in fear at the giant electric wave that closed in on them quickly. All they could do at that point was scream and hug each other in terror as the fear kept them petrified in their places.

 **Earl narrating:** "As I ran all I could think ab…Joy…never been this scared. Even after…" [As Earl starts to narrate the soundtrack and his voice become distorted and cuts in and out. It finally stops at the end of the scene shown]

 **Scene shown:** _The scene cuts from Randy and Crabman to Earl, Joy and Catalina again with the electric wave behind them. Earl manages to look back one last time at his inevitable doom before he and the two women get struck by a stray bolt near the edge of the wave and vanish in midair._

Less than thirty seconds after Earl, Joy and Catalina vanished all of Camden was quickly swallowed up by the explosion followed by the whole entire world. Randy, Crabman and everything else in existence were all gone.


	13. My Name is Earl- Final

As she stood outside the mystery building in the mystery world, Hyacinth found herself pacing back and forth near the entrance, wishing she had Elizabeth and some other high class friends to have tea with. She wasn`t sure if it was safer indoors or outdoors at this point (with the sky letting off some loud clashing noises now and again), due to the vanishing neon sign spooking her out. Rose thought it might have been Daisy or Richards spirit trying to send a message from beyond the grave while Onslow took it as a sign that he needed a drink soon. These claims didn`t help the Bucket woman feel more tranquil and as a result she had decided to go outside to try and find some peace (much to the others threes secret relief).

At this point, she had been out for half an hour and wondered what would become of her after a while. After all, the building had no food and the only liquid around was the gas in Onslow`s car. While she tried to take her mind off the problems for a moment, Hyacinth nearly jumped when the front door to the building opened and Rose leaned out. "Ah, Rose. Peculiar weather, is it not?", Hyacinth boasted as another odd flash was heard in the distance. Looking up with a bit of dread, Rose replied, "I`ve seen gloomier days when Onslow didn`t have a beer back home to drink. Speaking of Onslow…", "How is Emmet doing? Surely a person of Onslow`s mannerisms isn`t causing him too much distress", Hyacinth interrupted with concern. "He`s doing fine", Rose replied, leaving out the part where Emmet`s mood improved drastically the moment his neighbor went out.

"Anyway, Onslow and Emmet have been examining the mystery table for a while and they think they found something", Rose continued as her sister headed back inside. "Really? What is it exactly?", "I don`t know. They haven't said a word to me yet. I`ve been spending the last half hour in the hallway crying about the fact that I`ll never meet another wonderful man in my lifetime ever again. Oh, to be held passionately in his arms", Rose bemoaned spreading her hands out and accidently slapping Hyacinth. Recovering quickly, Hyacinth grabbed her sister by one of the arms and dragged her forward exclaiming, "Well then, let's go ask the men what they found. Come along now Rose".

The second Randy regained all his senses and feelings back, he jumped in panic and hyperventilated for a few moments. His mind was focusing on the last moments he experienced in Camden with the giant electric wave about to hit him when he felt someone move next to him, causing him to jump in fear again. When he noticed it was Crabman, Randy immediately asked him in a fast paced tone, "Crabman? Is that you? What happened? Where are we? Did we did? Did it hurt?", "Slow down Randy…Damn that stings", Crabman replied sitting up and rubbing his neck before taking in his surroundings.

Based on what he could see, he and Randy were apparently locked in a dark room that had a lot of folding chairs and other supplies commonly found in a janitor's closet. "Earl? Catalina?", Randy called getting up and walking around, stumbling into a lot of things in the dark. Crabman also got up and took a few moments to let his eyes adjust to the darkness. The minute he felt it was safe enough to look around, he quickly spotted a small light from the ground and approached it, noticing it was coming from the bottom of a thick door. "Randy. Come over here. I`ve found a way out", Crabman called to his friend across the room. After he bumped into something for the 100th time, Randy excitedly came over saying, "Oh good. Maybe this will take us back to the Crabshack or the lost city of Canada".

Before either man could try to open the door, they suddenly heard footsteps from the other side and immediately shut up and listened. There was more than one voice talking with the words hard to make out. One voice was shrill, female and loud while another sounded more exasperated and male. "Crabman?", Randy asked. "Shh…they may not be friendly", Crabman loudly whispered as he heard two sets of footsteps walk by while two more voices stayed close to the door.

On the other side of the door, Emmet and Onslow watched Rose and Hyacinth walk back to the table room with Emmet looking exasperated. "Wow. Less than a minute of Hyacinths presence and you`ve gone back to your stressful ways", Onslow exclaimed noting his facial expression. "Somehow that she-devil manages to ruin any goodwill I try to muster at the mere sight of her. Sometimes I dream of strangling her. Asking me if we have anything for a reviling candlelight supper after the end of the world amid still grieving over the ones we lost really set me off from within", Emmet said shaking his head. "Well, good thing I told the women to wait in the other room while we get our facts straightened out. If anything, our research on that table may help us figure out who set off that explosion", Onslow replied.

In the closet, Randy and Crabman had their ears pressed against the door as tight as they could and managed to overhear some words. Specifically, "Devil, Strangle, end of the world, set off and Explosion" were the main things they managed to get out of Emmet and Onslow`s conversation. Backing away from the door in terror, Randy exclaimed, "What was that all about? Sounds like those people outside are dangerous…wait, do you think they had something to do with Camden?", "Possibly. Maybe a cult was responsible for the attack. Could explain the devil and end of the world part", Crabman replied. "Well, what do we do now? If we are in cult territory it won`t be long until they catch us. They might strangle us", Randy exclaimed in panic. "Well then, at this point we only have one option: We fight back and then interrogate the survivors", Crabman stated cracking his knuckles. "Wait, what?", Randy asked as Crabman got ready to kick the door down.

Out in the hallway, Hyacinth leaned out from the table room and called to the two men, "Are you ready to come over and inform us of what you learned? Rose and I are getting a tad impatient with your tardiness". "Yes. Guess we are now", Emmet replied with a bit of disdain as he and Onslow started to walk over. After taking five steps from the locked door next to them, the duo suddenly heard a loud scream and spun around just in time to see said door get busted open.

"Bloody hell!", Onslow exclaimed as he saw two strange men stumble into the hallway with their fists up. "Onslow! Emmet! What`s going on?", Rose exclaimed as Hyacinth stumbled back into the doorframe in shock. "Lock the door! Someone slipped in here!", Emmet called out as Crabman did a few air punches in his direction in an attempt to intimidate him. Appearing at the door next to her sister, Rose let out a shocked cry upon seeing the two strange and potentially hostile men before dragging Hyacinth in the room and locking the door as instructed.

"Who the bloody hell are you?", Onslow exclaimed to Crabman, trying to process who the man in front of him was. "Silence cultist! We know you had something to do with Camden and all the trailers going haywire that turned into a boss battle. You`ll answer for what you did to our home and friends and my made up high score I set up and be sorry about it too", Randy hamishly declared while failing to look intimidating as Crabman. Emmet, Onslow and even Crabman look baffled by the narm like statement. "Do we look like we`re part of a cult? True, being around Hyacinth sure feels like one sometimes, but still…", Emmet exclaimed, trying to make sense of what he heard. "Oh dear God. The stress has gotten to Emmet! Saying that I am an unpleasant person. Imagine that!", Hyacinth exclaimed to her sister, mostly snapping out of her shock.

Shaking his head, Crabman stated, "Come on Randy, let's just put these cultists down and try to find a way back home", before charging at Onslow. To his surprise, Onslow managed to block the attacks with ease while Randy ran up and attempted to slap Emmet, only for his target to easily sidestep him. After a few moments, the two Camdenites and the two Brits stepped away from each other and gazed aggressively at their foes. Then, the groups simultaneously went in for another attack.

 **Fight 2-5**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Onslow**

 **-Emmet**

 **(side A)**

 **-Darnell "Crabman"**

 **-Randy**

 **(side B)**

 **After the fight:**

 _ **If Onslow and Emmet (side A) won the fight:**_ As soon as Randy and Crabman hit the ground out cold and defeated, Emmet and Onslow could only stare in disbelief at their foes while panting in exhaustion. After a few moments passed, they then heard the door to the table room creak open followed by Rose and Hyacinth peering out. "Is it safe to leave the room?", Rose asked. Nodding bluntly, Onslow replied, "I think these two will be out cold for a while. Huh, imagine us being in a cult".

( _If Onslow lost fight 1-4:_ "Lucky for me I learned from the last fight, right Emmet?", Onslow continued while jovially patting Emmet on the shoulder. _/ If Emmet lost fight 1-4:_ "Yes, it`s quite lucky for them we arn`t in one and lucky for us that I got better at fighting after the last scuffle I was in", Emmet couldn`t help but add, making Onslow cough and look away from him with a bit of guilt on his face.)

Exiting the room, Hyacinth and Rose joined the men as they looked down at the defeated Camdemites. "You know, I actually thought you guys were fighting monsters at first, but now I see that you fought some actually cute looking men. Do you think they`re single", Rose lustily stated? "I wouldn`t invite them to one of my candlelight suppers in the attire they are wearing", Hyacinth replied as she and the other two men gave her sister a weird look.

 _ **If Crabman and Randy (side B) won the fight:**_ Randy and Crabman looked at Emmet and Onslow as they laid unconscious on the ground. "Yeah! Take that you cultists! Serves you right for what you did to Camden!", Randy boasted as he simultaneously tried to catch his breathe.

Moving forward and gesturing Randy to follow, Crabman approached the table room and noted how silent it was. Carefully, he opened the door and peered inside. He didn`t see the two women from earlier, though the glowing shapes on the table got his attention. Appearing behind him, Randy also noted the table and foolishly walked ahead to examine it while exclaiming, "Hey Crabman, check out these weird drawings", "Randy, get back", Crabman urgently stated as he stepped forward to pull Randy away.

Out of nowhere, a shoe hit the back of Crabman`s head and Hyacinth emerged from behind the table swinging her purse at Randy. Less than five seconds later, the men were on the ground unconscious with the two women standing over them.

"I dare say, these are actual men. Real sexy and attractive men. Maybe I could use one of them to make Emmet jealous", Rose exclaimed. "They could use a better sense of fashion if you ask me. I wouldn`t…wait a minute. Emmet!", Hyacinth suddenly exclaimed running into the hallway with Rose following her, awkwardly trying to put her shoe back on.

In the hallway, Emmet and Onslow both groaned as the two women reached them. "Emmet, Onslow. Are you two alright?", Hyacinth declared helping Emmet up while Rose strained a bit to do the same for Onslow. "That fight could have worked out better", Emmet could only reply. "Yeah. What a couple of ruffians", Onslow said.

( _If Onslow also lost fight 1-4:_ "I gotta admit, being defeated twice in one day sure is harsh", Onslow then stated doing a stretch to ease some of the pain he felt. "Oh bug off Onslow. I`ve seen you take worse before", Rose responded. / _If Emmet also lost fight 1-4:_ As Onslow stretched a bit, Emmet suddenly let out a sigh and said, "Two defeats in one day. Starting to feel like home somehow", "Oh Emmet, I`m glad that your sense of humor is still intact", Hyacinth declared, missing the jab made at her expense entirely.)

 _ **(The next part of the story plays out the same, though where Randy and Crabman are laying knocked out (the hallway or the table room) affects the chapter ending)**_ _:_ Suddenly, the four heard a wooshing noise and looked towards the end of the hallway. To their surprise, the wall vanished and transformed into a full sized entrance to a bar. "Beer!", Onslow quipped excitedly as he noticed the tavern while Emmet noticed the Crabshack sigh again. Apparently, the whole indoor section of the establishment ended up in the area like Richards old place of occupation. Before anyone could stop him, Onslow sprinted to get a drink.

 _Fight A outcome_ **:** Shaking her head in disapproval, Hyacinth told Emmet, "Poor man is probably seeking something to sooth his trauma from the experience. Though I will admit that something a little less fancy to eat will do me nicely. Coming Emmet, Rose?", "Very well then. I suppose I deserve something for my victory", Emmet replied. "If you don`t mind, I`ll stay here and guard these prisoners", Rose said eagerly looking down at Randy and Crabman again. Feeling it was best to leave before she said anything else dirty, Hyacinth lead Emmet to the tavern without looking back while Onslow apparently started chugging down his first mug.

 _Fight B outcome_ : "You know, despite the appearance of a new room I still find the two men a bigger worry", Emmet replied to the ladies as he glanced at the table room where Randy and Crabman still laid unconscious. "Yes. Why don`t you go and help me keep an eye on them while Rose watches out for Onslow", Hyacinth suddenly stated dragging Emmet towards the table room while giving Rose a hint that she shouldn`t let Onslow do something embarrassing. Catching it, Rose reluctantly walked into the Crabshack room while Emmet tried and failed to get Hyacinth to let him go (as he desired to go to the bar instead of spending more time with her). Rose sat down at a nearby table and watched Onslow chug a beer with excitement before sighing and telling herself excitedly, "At least I might have someone to flirt with later".

 **End of My Name is Earl (story arc 2)**

 **Everyone`s status`:**

-Onslow, Rose, Hyacinth, Emmet (in mystery building and in unknown world, in charge of the building)

-Randy, Darnell "Crabman" (in mystery building and unknown world, prisoners of the Keeping Up Appearances characters)

-Daisy, Richard, Liz/ Earl, Joy, Catalina (all unknown after blasts erased their respective dimensions)

-Daddy (unknown, but still riding his bike out somewhere in space and time)


	14. Intermission 1

In the spaceship overlooking the Earth, the Boss watched as explosion after explosion after explosion of his dimension erasing bombs went off. He almost smiled as he looked at the monitors in front of him and saw that 14% of all the existing dimensions of the planet were conquered, curtesy of him and his master plan. Yet despite the fact that things were mostly going his way, there were a few things weighing on his mind. Things that were making a sense of impatience grow in him.

Pressing a button to speak to Mal, the boss waited for a response. "Mal speaking. Sorry for the delay. I was checking on our sole prisoner considering-", "Mal, we have a really big problem with the invasion plan going on right now and if we don`t fix it ASAP then we can kiss achieving that sweet victory and our after plans goodnight", the Boss bitterly stated, not caring what Mal had to say. "Okay, okay. Settle down. Are you still concerned with the fact that we lost the Alpha Drone to a bunch of trailer trash in that recently erased dimension?", Mal asked, recalling the Bosses angry rant over the destruction it suffered not too long ago. According to the last reading, a bunch of golf balls took it down and he had no idea whether to believe that or not.

"Yes Mal! This is serious! When I programmed the Alpha Drone and Beta Destroyer, I installed a super computer lobe in their system that basically made them command multiple armies across dimensions at the same time. With one of the two top drones gone, the Beta Destroyer is going to have its work cut out. I saw several other groups across dimensions get away thanks to the absence of that drone!", "Oh please. I`m sure the Beta Destroyer can handle itself just fine. I can even prove to you that one superior drone can do all the heavy work", Mal told his boss with annoyance. "Oh yeah, and what if it can`t? What if it fails?", "It won`t. Just observe it invade the next world and you will see. But if you really are that concerned I have some old notes on a backup plan that could be more effective. Project…something, something".

Taking a moment to inhale and exhale, the Boss sternly said, "Start looking for that backup plan then. Oh, and make sure it isn`t shitty", before hanging up. As Mal grumbled to himself that he would soon get his own share of the power and this demotion was worth it, the Boss contacted the Beta Destroyer.

"Beta Destroyer. What`s your status?", "Status report: Entering dimension Schopfer/deer within the hour. Dimension Erasing Bomb and squad ready to engage", "Good. Good. Take everyone you come across by surprise. I want to see plenty of frozen beings added to my collection aboard here", the Boss ordered before he hung up and glanced at the Earth again.

As the explosions kept coming and washing over the planet, the Boss tried to put his worries aside and taunted his many victims from afar. "There you go, and you, and you…one step closer to being the best of them all…", he said with a trance of insanity.


	15. Deer Me- Part 1

**Authors note:**

 **Due to my next chapter using a lesser known property, I think that it is best that I explain a few things. This chapter takes place in a furry webcomic known as "Deer Me". It`s basically a slice of life story following the exploits of two anthro deer and an anthro horse who (for most of the run) shared a home in Seattle with the two deer going through a series long arc that has them have feelings for each other with their differences keeping them apart.**

 **If anyone knows the storylines, then at the time of writing a major wedding arc story wrapped up, with Rasha (an anthro gazelle who works with one of the protagonists) and Jared (an anthro cartoonist wolf who publishes a wombat newspaper comic in-universe) officially tying the knot and the reception also finished. In my story the webcomic takes place before the wedding, meaning the more recent strips won`t be acknowledged.**

 **If you want to know more about the setting, characters, ect. then I advise that you see the webcomic yourself. It`s a good read.**

 _Chapter 3: Like a Deer in the Headlights_

 _Deer Me_

BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!

As soon as the noise from her alarm clock hit her ears, Vianna Doesulen (an anthropomorphic deer) found herself drifting from dream land to reality in a snap. She slammed a tight fist on the snooze button and slowly shifted out of bed muttering, "Okay. I`m up. I`m up" in a cranky tone. As she looked at the time, she blinked and found herself staring more intensely at the time. Somehow, she had set her timer 20 minutes later than usual as she hunkered down for bed the night before, derailing her morning schedule.

"Crap", Vianna exclaimed before running off to get ready. As she showered (while being thankful her roommate didn`t use all the hot water this time to wash her thick tail), brushed her creamy colored fur and dressed up the deer kept reminding herself that being late for work would not be an option today. Her place of occupation, the Bubbling Bath & Beauty in the local mall of Seattle, was having a 40% off sale which inevitably meant more annoying shoppers to deal with and more employees required to help out. Her boss Corey (an anthro poodle) was often stricter and demanding in times like these despite his more calmer and open personality on a usual business day.

After putting on her white work shirt, her khaki black pants and most importantly her domino mask (today she wore a blue one from her collection), Vianna took a moment to admire her looks in the mirror before heading into the kitchen for a quick bite. There, the sound of typing greeted her ears as she entered the room. At the table with half a bowl of cornflakes next to her was an anthro Standardbred horse typing away on her laptop. "Hey Vianna, you look like you`re in a hurry this morning", Velvet Hairyson teased in a friendly tone as she hit send while Vianna opened the fridge and combed the contents for something good.

"Ha. Ha. Glad to see your sense of humor is intact today Ms. Neighsayer. Anyone crazy asking for help on your blog today?", Vianna asked as she pulled out some grape jelly and approached the pantry for the bread and peanut butter. While she prepared her meal, Velvet thought for a moment before saying, "Nothing too crazy so far. The only thing worth mentioning aside from the relationship and dating advise was a message from Woola". "Woola? Really? Did she ask anything about me?", Vianna asked, realizing it was a few days since she last heard from her college sheep friend and her family (which included her husband and gym owner Thondy and her 1st grade son Davan).

"She said that she and Devan are going to the mall today for clothes shopping. It turns out that her mom is turning 77 next week and her little boy needs a tuxedo for the fancy restraint the family will be dining at. Since I`m the expert in clothes shopping, Woola invited me to come with them to help pick out the right attire (plus, I could get something for myself along the way)", Velvet boasted, making Vianna roll her eyes. Of course clothes shopping would be involved in all this one way or another, considering Velvets wardrobe was so big that it took up not only her closet space but also the deer's and the spare bedrooms closet.

Continuing when she didn`t notice Vianna`s expression, Velvet continued, "The three of us were planning to visit your job once we we`re done. Perhaps we can get you something?", "How about a job position that requires me to interact with less people, like yours in example", Vianna stated, her disdain towards customers (especially the sexist and sleazy male ones who stared at her) on her mind again. As the deer took a huge bite of her sandwich, Velvet scoffed and stated, "You`d buckle under the pressure just like that", earning a hostile dead glare as a response.

"I have a few minutes to spare. Let me try the next person who responds to you on that thing", Vianna insisted before shoving the rest of her breakfast in her mouth. Feeling it would be interesting to watch, Velvet moved aside and gestured Vianna forward. Walking over and leaning forward, Vianna prepared to read the next bloggers question on Velvets site when a video call appeared. The second she saw who it was, the hostility and determination shifted to awkwardness on the deer's face. Her client was her ex-roommate: artist and attractive (though the last thing was something she`d never admit aloud) anthro deer Thomas Millwood.

Looking at Velvet as she stopped chewing for a moment, Vianna didn`t know what to do. This prompted the horse to lean forward and press the "Accept Chat" button, displaying the male deer`s face onscreen in a matter of seconds. The moment he saw who was on the other end, Thomas let out a surprised gasp. "Vianna?...Hi…I was expecting Velvet", he awkwardly stated. Vianna tried to say something but the peanut butter essentially became a gag as it muffled her own awkward words she wanted to say. Seeing this made Thomas suddenly laugh and mutter, "Well, glad to see my favorite yobo is eating well". Right away, Vianna shifted to hostile mode and swallowed bitterly before saying in a near shouting tone, "Thomas, I thought I told you a million times never to call me the Y word".

Watching the duo "interact", Velvet felt a familiar sense of frustration overcome her. She knew that when Thomas lived with her and Vianna, the two deer clearly had feelings for each other amid their differences. The horse, a self-proclaimed match maker, tried to get the duo out of the friend zone only for Thomas` occasional goofy attitude and Vianna`s occasional hostile anti-male and anti-anybody-who-pesters-me-gets-the-beating-of-a-lifetime attitude getting in the way. What was worse was that Velvet knew the duo cared deeply for each other in a similar way to Woola and Thondy, yet their personalities and tendencies to antagonize each other for kicks (Thomas` case) or personal reasons (Vianna`s case) often held them back. Well, all that and the fact that Vianna was currently dating Thomas` friend and new roommate Aaron (an anthro pronghorn).

As Velvet left her own thoughts and saw Thomas continue to refer to Vianna as a grouchy and rude individual while Vianna kept telling him to stop calling her a yobo with a few jabs at the male race along the way, the horse got in the middle of the conversation to try and prevent any catastrophes. "Hello Thomas! Glad to see you today! How is life?", "Oh, the same old same old. I`ve got some demanding clients who want me to draw pictures that fit their perfectionist whim", Thomas replied with a bit of annoyance while Vianna moved out of the cameras sight to get some milk, a sudden feeling of embarrassment on her face. "Sounds like a busy day. Vianna told me yesterday she has a huge sale to attend to. Is that true Vianna?", Velvet asked, trying to get her to rejoin her talk with Thomas on a higher note. "Um, yeah. Say, how`s Aaron doing? Is he at home?", Vianna asked as she suddenly looked at the screen but didn`t make direct eye contact with Thomas. "Oh, he left early for a meeting or something", "Good. Well, I`ve gotta get going. See you around", Vianna said before leaving.

As soon as the door slammed, Thomas let out a sigh and asked reluctantly, "She`s still passive aggressive as usual, isn`t she?", "Yep. And not just because of yobo anymore. She still misses you every day. I can tell by the way she talks whenever you`re brought up in a conversation", Velvet responded sadly. After a few awkward moments of silence, she continued by asking, "Are you still considering moving back in with us? I mean, your old room is still open", "Thanks but no thanks. I know Aaron would be upset if I left just to be closer to Vianna. I mean, the two are still dating", "Good point", Velvet flatly admitted, recalling how Aaron and Vianna became a couple not too long after she put her foot down and told Thomas to man up and share his true feelings to the female deer. There was no point ruining Thomas and Aarons friendship over that. The two basically knew each other since college.

It looked like he wanted to say more about the topic, but at this point Thomas was feeling too uncomfy to continue. After he excused himself and ended the call wishing her a nice day, Velvet was left alone with her blog again. As she started to respond to a question she got during the online chat, Velvet got an e-mail from Woola and quickly opened it.

 _Hey Velvet,_

 _Ready to go to the mall in an hour? Devan can`t wait to meet up with Aunt Vianna and his other favorite Aunt. He says it`ll make all the torture of clothes shopping worth it (almost)._

 _-Woola_

A small smile appeared on Velvets face as she started typing that she would meet them on time. Before she hit send, she heard a small but loud boom outside. "That`s strange. It`s supposed to be a sunny day today", she said aloud while looking up. 

**Unknown location-**

Richard, Liz and Daisy continued to scream as they spun around aimlessly in what could be described as a black void of nothingness. Ever since they got struck by the bolt of lightning amid the explosion back home, they were stuck in this odd place of existence where they had no direction as to where they were going at the speed of light. They also had no idea how long they were falling as it felt like time had no meaning in this place. As far as the trio knew, they could have been falling up or down for seconds or eons and the two examples wouldn`t feel all that different.

"Richard! Hold me!", Liz cried desperately as she reached out for him. Richard tried to grab his neighbors arm but all the twirling he was doing made the task impossible. Daisy was thinking if this was how she`d die when out of nowhere she saw a few streaks of color pass by her. Somehow, bafflement overtook her fear as she looked around the blackness for those streaks again. What she ended up seeing next was a bright light approaching her. "Richard! Liz! What`s happening!?", she shouted flailing her arms again. Richard and Liz stopped trying to grab each other and starred at the light as it got closer and brighter. Before anyone could react, the trio were then blinded and felt a cold rush of air overtake them.

After a thunderous boom Richard, Liz and Daisy found themselves flung out of the void of nothingness and onto a rooftop surface, sliding all the way to the center of it. All three miraculously were unhurt and didn`t even have a scratch on them by the time they stopped, though they didn`t move for a few minutes as it took a bit of time for the fear to leave their minds.

Finally, as they found the strength to stand up slowly Liz managed to ask, "What…what happened back there?", "Apparently we were caught in a blast while fleeing invaders from outer space or something equally menacing…I actually feel insane saying it even though you both know I`m telling the truth", Richard answered as Daisy looked around in bafflement. "Where are we anyway? This doesn`t look like home. And for that matter, where is everybody else", she asked?

Liz and Richard suddenly realized none of their loved ones were with them. "Emmet? Speak up if you can hear me!", "Hyacinth? Where are you?", they both called out looking in every possible direction while Daisy walked around the rooftop, simultaneously calling for her family members and trying to make sense of the group's current location. As she examined her surroundings and how big the building they were on top of was, Richard and Liz stopped calling upon realizing it was defiantly just the three of them here. "Richard. What`s happened to everyone else? We were close to the others before we...you know…", Liz exclaimed. "I don`t know. I also haven't got a clue as to how we are somewhere far away from a destructive blast. Look at this place. It clearly hasn`t been hit by anything recently", Richard answered as he gazed at a pristine small forest next to the building.

As Richard and Liz tried to debate what was going on, Daisy walked over to an AC unit on the roof and leaned against it, feeling lost and helpless without her strong and charismatic hunk of a husband here to help out. To her surprise she suddenly heard talking from the ground. "But Mom! I don`t wanna go shopping! It`s the most boring thing in the world!", "Keith, you`d better behave with your sister or else you`re grounded for a whole week. That includes no begging for toys and running around shouting", "Oh don`t worry mommy, I`ll behave. After all, I`m the nice one", "Mommy, make Carly stop teasing me!",

Managing to make Richard and Liz stop talking with an excited gesture, Daisy approached the edge of the roof and signaled the other two to follow her. As the conversation reached their ears, a bit of hope fluttered through everyone. With other people nearby, they could definitely get help, or even see a familiar face if they got lucky.

Reaching the edge of the roof first, Daisy leaned forward and got ready to shout and grab someone's attention when her look of excitement turned into one of shock and disbelief. As she moved back from the edge quickly, Richard and Liz stopped and stared in bafflement. "Daisy?", Liz could only ask as she saw her acquaintance trying to process something in her head. After a moment, Daisy replied to Richard. "Your hunch was right. We`re defiantly not in England anymore".

Looking more confused than ever, Richard and Liz walked over to the edge of the roof and also looked down. Just like Daisy, all their emotions shifted to pure shock and disbelief as they starred at the source of the chatter. An anthro female wolf was scolding her two kids (also wolves) as she basically dragged her son into an entrance with the daughter following and giving her sibling a teasing look.

Rather than duck down immediately, Richard and Liz continued to observe their surroundings below them with growing disbelief. There was a half full parking lot with many types of anthropomorphic species walking towards and away from the building. They all wore clothing, walked on two legs and seemed surprisingly civilized. There were some canine species, some feline species, some reptilian species, some birds…it felt like there were too many to directly list without having one's mind lost in the awe factor. As Liz finally backed away in a similar fashion that Daisy did prior, Richard continued to observe the traits these anthro animals used. A female raven dressed in light colored clothing walked into the building chatting on a mobile phone, a young goat and his father walked by with the kid counting some money he had for shopping out loud (and the father apparently teaching him how to count by the looks of it), a female lion and a male otter were both sharing a quick kiss under a lamp post and were talking sweetly to each other under the guise of young love…

As Richard finally felt he was pushing his luck and ducked for cover before being spotted, he faced Liz and Daisy who were trying to comprehend what just happened. "So we`re in a world where animals are basically like us? How could that be possible?", Liz exclaimed, shaking as if she were holding one of Hyacinths china cups. "Maybe…maybe we are in a parallel dimension. I saw Onslow read about them once in bed", Daisy answered. "Really? What did you learn from him?", Liz asked. "I don`t really know. Other than hearing about some sort of theory about links connecting worlds to each other, I tried to use talk of parallel dimensions to get him in the mood, such as in another dimension we are the best lovers…", Daisy began to answer with some lustful excitement.

Feeling she was getting off topic, Richard cleared his throat to interrupt her and asked, "So we might have gone through a link to another dimension as a result of the blast? Is that what you think?", "I guess. Seems to be the best explanation", Daisy answered, clearly upset her fantasies once again ended up falling flat.

Gathering up some courage again, Liz walked over to the edge of the roof and looked down at the many anthro animals that came and went into the building. "Well, if we did land in another dimension, we`re definitely not in another version of our country. Look, there`s an American flag and a bunch of those cars seem to say…Seattle", she exclaimed noticing a flagpole and a car that was pulling out close to the entrance. "I don`t see any other humans here. That could mean our existence might be greeted with hostility", Daisy worriedly stated pulling Liz back before she could get spotted. "Hang on a minute. How do we know that? Maybe there are humans here and we simply didn`t see them. And even if we don`t exist here, these animals could all be friendly", Richard retorted, trying to be optimistic.

"DON`T YOU DARE CALL ME A YOBO WHEN I`M RUNNING LATE! I ALREADY CAN`T STAND THAT WORD WHEN MY OWN FRIENDS SAY IT OUT LOUD!", a shouting voice from another side of the roof exclaimed. More curious than fearful at this point, the trio jogged over and peered down secretly. There, they saw a female anthro deer wearing blue domino mask shouting at a dirty bulldog in a tank shirt who was gazing longingly at her. "Whoa. Settle down lady. Late for your secretary job?", the bulldog jeered playfully, oblivious to the sparks that were appearing in the eyes of the female deer. "I`m running late for work and the last thing I need is for someone to nearly scratch my car and insult me. Back off", she threatened. "Oh, how I like it when they`re angry", the bulldog coo`ed, making something within the female deer snap. Less than ten seconds later, the bulldog was face first in a nearby trashcan with a huge wedgie making it hard for him to get out while the female deer speed walked away whistling happily.

Up on the roof, the three humans backed away and looked at each other in disbelief. "I didn`t know a deer could do that many kicks and punches to someone in a short amount of time", Daisy exclaimed. "I can`t believe one could get so angry. It looked like her face was almost on fire from the rage", Liz added. "Maybe it`d be best if we stay out of sight and try to find Onslow, Rose, Daddy and everyone else in secret. Just in case these animals get as aggressive like the deer", Daisy then said, making her companions nod in agreement.

Glancing around, Richard was the first to spot a fire latter to the side of the building and ran over to it. He saw that it was next to a beauty shop and that the entrance wasn`t as crowed for some reason along with an easy walking route to the nearby forest that was most likely isolated. However, he did see the female deer approaching while talking on her own mobile phone along with a few lingering animals close by, making him hesitant to climb down. Looking back at the two women behind him, Richard gave out the plan. "We`ll wait for the place to be less crowed and then go to that forest. Once we`re safely out of sight, we`ll try to find everyone else and then come with a plan to get home or somewhere safer if this world really is dangerous…", "That`s a good idea for now...what`s wrong Richard?", Liz asked seeing the expression of dread on his face. "Oh nothing. It felt for a moment that I was acting like Hyacinth", Richard said with dread.

At that point, another strange rumble was heard in the sky making all three humans and the animals outside stare upward. While the animals quickly forgot about it and carried on Richard, Liz and Daisy looked terrified. "No. That sound. It was what I heard before our world was invaded", Liz exclaimed in a shaky voice. "It looks like the attackers followed us to this dimension. We`d best move fast. Once the coast is clear, we run to the forest", Richard said keeping an eye on the female deer as she reached the entrance next to the latter.


	16. Deer Me- Part 2

After Vianna had quickly left her home feeling a bit more embarrassed then she cared to admit, she got in her car and went straight to the mall, trying not to let her thoughts of Thomas distract her. Lucky for her, those distracting thoughts of the male deer and everything about him weren't on the main part of her mind by the time she pulled into the parking lot of her mall. The natural stresses of the hard work to come overtook everything at the moment (though she seemed to enjoy this state of mind less).

To her surprise, the doe then spotted two parking spaces right next to the building and drove for the closer one, thinking that her work day was off to a good start. Right away, her assumption was proven wrong when a car driving so fast pulled up to the other spot, nearly hitting her own car along the way.

Once she had parked her car, Vianna got out and angrily confronted the driver of the other car for his recklessness in her familiar angry personality. How could someone drive so careless in a place like this and not show concern about it? It was moments like these that occasionally made Vianna scared to drive. "Excuse me, but you nearly hit me", she told the bulldog. Noticing the deer`s expression and how pretty she looked, the bulldog simply smiled and said in a less than respectful tone, "Aww, so sorry pretty one. Dang, how are the yobo`s always the hot ones?"

At that moment Vianna felt something go off inside her. Calmly as she could, she handled the situation by putting the piece of trash where he belonged after some words were exchanged and walked away for the nearest entrance. She barely had a moment to bask in the glory of showing the male race what for when her phone suddenly rang. Pulling out her iPhone, she was a bit surprised that the caller ID showed Blaire Evans-Keene, an anthro rabbit acquaintance who had gone to college with Velvet and Thomas.

Knowing it was urgent for some instinctive reason, Vianna accepted the call. "Hey Blaire. Fancy hearing from you today", "Hi Vianna. Nice to hear from you to. How`s Velvet and Thomas doing?", Blaire asked, her tone being both friendly yet concerned, as if she had something inconvenient to ask. Picking up on this as she neared the mall entrance, Vianna almost cut to the chase right away. "They`re doing fine. Velvet`s just about to go shopping with some friends soon and Thomas is off drawing at work. Let me guess, is your husband off doing something crazy again in the name of art?"

Just as she predicted, Blaire gave a sigh and stated, "Yep, this morning I woke up and James was nowhere in the house. The only thing he left behind was a note about a dream he had which was pointing him to the next biggest form of art that would take the world by storm. I also know that it has something to do with a lot of hats and is expensive, considering he took all the credit cards from my purse".

Vianna stopped near the mall entrance and felt a sense of dread wash over her. James Keene, an anthro skunk, was quite the wild card of everyone in her social circle (even more so than Velvet on her loopier days). Whenever a crazy idea reached his subconscious, odds are he would do it for the name of something artistic.

Last time something like this happened she, Thomas (when he still lived at the house) and Velvet were on the couch watching a movie when it was cut off by a live news broadcast. Apparently, there were hundreds of yards across many neighborhoods that had a makeshift canal cut through them baring the shape of Blaire. Velvet expressed confusion for a few moments as to how Blaire managed to make the news while Thomas and Vianna both counted down for the moment where James would be shown. Sure enough, when they reached zero, the broadcast showed James swimming down the canals while trying to avoid some police who were approaching to arrest him. "And I thought the stuff he did in college was crazy", Thomas could only comment. "Sure beats any blockbuster", Vianna had added as James got zapped by a stun gun onscreen after he got pulled out of the current and heavily resisted arrest.

In the present day Blair told Vianna, "I`m driving around now looking for that striped troublemaker. There`s a lot of ground for me to cover, even when I exclude all the arts and crafts stores James wasn`t banned from. If you somehow see him at the mall, can you let me know?", "Sure. And while you`re looking, checking Thomas` place of work might be a good idea considering how much material they have for art. You know he`d… Yikes, it`s almost 9. Sorry Blaire. I gotta get to work", Vianna answered before noting the time on her phone. After a quick thanks and a goodbye, the call ended and Vianna approached the entrance quickly.

As she reached for the door, she suddenly noticed what side of the mall she really was at and backed away from it as if it were on fire. "No. Not this place! How did I let myself end up here?!", she exclaimed reading the dreaded name of the store: YOU COULD BE PRETTIER. The female makeup and clothing store that had the most notorious employees in the world. To put it simply, if anyone had the misfortune of walking into the place, the employees (known as the Beauty Brigade) would all offer "samples" of looking prettier and apply the makeup whether the person wanted it or not.

Rumor had it that one nonconformist customer who entered left with a completely different personality (that of a generic supermodel to be exact) and with 900 dollars less to spend in the span of twenty minutes, all because of the Brigades "influence". Barely seeing faint shadows appear and duck behind clothing racks from within, Vianna gulped nervously as she felt she was not only being watched from inside but from outside as well. Looking at her phone again, she noticed there were only five minutes to go until she was officially late. Knowing being tardy wasn`t an option and there was no other way to arrive on time, Vianna took a deep breath and prepared for another run of her life through the shop.

 **Mini-game #5: Lair of the Beauty Brigade**

 _ **Objective: In a style reminiscent of "Dragons Lair", Vianna must sprint across the notorious beauty shop while avoiding the employees "offering" product samples. The ideal goal is to make it into the main section of the mall without getting hit once (though unlike Dragons Lair, some missed QTE`s won`t give a game over).**_

 _ **Controls:**_

 _ **-Triangle, Square, Circle, X button: Evade Brigade member or any other obstacle (when prompt appears onscreen)**_

 _ **Advise:**_

 _ **-As mentioned above, Vianna can miss a few QTEs (five to be exact). Getting hit by a product will leave makeup on her face for the rest of the segment and getting hit too many times results in a game over, forcing the player to restart.**_

 _ **-Like Crabmans segment, the amount of times Vianna gets hit will affect will affect a scene that plays out in the story afterwards. Getting the least damage may result in getting something helpful for the story later on.**_

 _Description of the segment:_

 _Vianna enters the store and slowly looks around before moving forward. She manages to avoid a few perfume and hairspray samples without noticing. Then, just when she thinks she`s safe, the doe turns around and sees four members of the Beauty Brigade standing behind her, all grinning excitedly with beauty products at hand. Right away, Vianna runs with the Brigade chasing her and declaring she needs to be prettier. Her main path to the entrance is blocked by two more employees who try to make her have a perfume sample, forcing Vianna to take a detour. In order, Vianna then navigates through a section of display cabinets full of perfume, slides by a lipstick and eyeliner section and evades the employees in a clothing section with ridiculously small sizes._

 _Just as Vianna reaches the exit, she gets blocked again and is forced to take cover behind a huge magazine wall full of beauty magazines. As it looks like she`s cornered after a few more samples to evade, Vianna manages to climb over the wall and runs out of the store screaming. The Brigade starts to chase her but stops when one says they`re leaving their official beautification jurisdiction._

After the game is cleared:

As Vianna sprinted down the mall past the shoppers to work, she ignored the calls of the Brigade telling her she still needed to be prettier and that her looks and attire were wrong. ( _If Vianna didn`t get hit once or she got hit 3-5 times_ : Vianna`s only response was to look back and blow raspberries at the Brigade. Once again, they didn`t get her and she made it out with her sanity in check./ _If Vianna got hit 2-3 times:_ Vianna didn`t listen as she quickly wiped the unwanted makeup samples off her. No way she`d appear at work looking like this.)

With the Brigade behind her and a minute left to spare, Vianna then picked up speed and made a dash for the Bubbling Bath and Beauty. She felt there was still a chance that she`d make it on time.

Lucky for Vianna, her stamina managed to help her run to work quick enough to make it on time. When she got into the store, her co-worker Rasha Ziwi (an anthro Thompsons gazelle and ex-girlfriend of Thomas) and her boss Cory were the only ones there. Cory was advising Rasha to put all the soap bottles she was stocking on the right shelves with Rasha insisting she wouldn`t mess up in any way before the duo noticed the doe.

"Vianna, glad to see you made it", Cory said as he opened a box of bottled peach scented soap at the counter and jotted a note on a clipboard he held. Noting how out of breath her co-worker was ( _as well as the makeup on her face)_ , Rasha couldn`t help but smirk and casually tease, "Looks like you went through the Beauty Brigade, huh?", earning Vianna`s ire for the moment.

 _ **If Vianna got hit 0-2 times during the mini-game:**_

"Yeah. And considering how little of their crap they got on me today, it feels like I managed to master the art of beautification resistance", the doe retorted as she watched Rasha put up a display of violet scented soap.

As a bottle fell off the table with the gazelle not noticing, she replied, "Too bad, you really look like you need a makeover. Considering how bland your fur is, anything those girls have to offer is worth it". While Rasha apparently sounded like she was in the right, Vianna knew her co-worker well enough. It was obvious she was just being her unknowing jerkass self amid her own light sadistic and self-centered personality. What Thomas saw in her when he began to date her really boggled Vianna`s mind.

As she picked up the soap bottle, Vianna considered giving it back to her co-worker but decided to just put it on the wrong shelf instead. Might make Rasha look a little incompetent to the boss for her troubles. However, before she could carry out her scheme, a phone call from the back got Cory`s attention. "Vianna, get started on the registers while I get that", he called.

Sighing that her little plan failed, Vianna tucked the bottle into her pocket and approached the front desk immediately before Cory entered the back. As she opened the cashier and counted how much cash was inside, Vianna decided to just wait for the right time to plant the soap on the wrong shelf. After all, seeing Rasha`s ego get punctured a bit by a correction would be a sight to see. Plus, if she were caught odds were that Cory would go easy on her, considering her sometimes angry attitude prompted easy sales from customers somehow. [ **Note: Vianna has the bottle of soap** ]

 _ **If Vianna got hit 3-5 times during the mini-game:**_

Cory suddenly sniffed the air and said with concern, "They got you good today. Tell you what Vianna, you can wash up in the back before you get started with the register", "Thanks Cory. Looks like someone is showing compassion today", Vianna commented heading for the back as Rasha continued to give her a teasing smirk, finding Vianna`s predicament comedy gold.

As Vianna briefly pondered how someone like Thomas could ever once date someone like Rasha, she quickly used the sink in the back to clean off the reviling beauty products. As she finished and dried off, a phone nearby suddenly rang. Cory entered and answered while gesturing the doe to go to her post before saying, "Oh, hi Jared. Yes, you`re fiancé is doing fine…"

As Vianna returned to the store and got behind the cash register to officially start her shift, she witnessed Rasha pick up a soap bottle off the floor and put it back on the right shelf. "There, all done. A perfect task completed to start a perfect day of work. What`s wrong Vianna? You look a bit stressed already as well as blander", Rasha innocently teased, apparently forgetting about Vianna`s whole "beauty" ordeal already. As Vianna had images of violence flash through her head, she forced a smile and replied, "It`s nothing. Just a small annoyance close by", before focusing on her work with plans to humiliate the gazelle later on. [ **Note: Vianna does not have the bottle of soap]**

(Story continues here the same regardless of outcome):

As more customers attracted by the big sale came into the store and annoyed Vianna with ridiculous questions (i.e. "I found this bottle of carrot scented soap. Can you tell me what scent it is?"), Rasha soon joined Vianna behind the counter to deal with purchases while Cory emerged from the back to continue observing the business while keeping it in order. Vianna dealt with the annoyance in this point in stride and just waited patiently for it all to end, not expecting anything abnormal to happened.

 **Outside the mall near the You Could Be Prettier entrance:**

As soon as Vianna had bravely entered the store Richard, Daisy and Liz waited for a minute to make sure that the coast was clear. In the amount of time that passed, the semi-crowded lot cleared up a bit and nobody seemed close enough to spot them. "Okay, move", Richard hissed as he climbed down the latter first followed by Liz and Daisy.

As the trio made their way closer to the ground, Liz exclaimed, "Do you think the plan to go to the forest is still a good idea? If the invaders followed us here, maybe we should just reveal ourselves to the animals and find help. True, they might devour us or attack us like that deer did to the dog, but I`m so frightened of facing another mechanical monster at this point", "If Onslow and everybody else is out here somewhere I`d like to make sure they`re safe and sound before we talk to the locals here", Daisy responded.

Richard was three quarters down the latter when he suddenly heard a distant engine and turned to face the source of the sound. To his horror, a taxi was driving towards the mall entrance and it looked like it would park right in front of them. He faintly noticed a skunk talking excitedly to the cabbie, buying Richard time with the unknowing diversion as he leapt towards the ground. As the cab got closer, he signaled Liz to jump in his arms. Swallowing her fear, Liz jumped off the latter and landed perfectly in Richards arms. "That was intense", she exclaimed as she got on her own two feet and straightened her clothes quickly. Before Richard could reply Daisy suddenly leapt towards him next with no warning, knocking him flat on the ground. As the cab closed in, Liz looked around frantically and noticed a large decorative hedge in front of her. While Richard and Daisy both groaned from the pain they felt, Liz basically got them to their feet and had them stumble into the leafy cover with her. The skunk and cabbie didn`t notice the trio by the time the cab pulled into one of the parking spots in front of the store.

"Daisy, what the bloody hell was that for?", Richard loudly hissed in the cover as he heard the cab door open. "Well, if Liz could get down safe and quickly so could I. I`m an agile woman", Daisy responded before Liz shushed her to listen in on some chatter.

"Sheesh, you`re ideas are some of the craziest I`ve heard in my life. When you`re wife finds out how much you`ll spend, it`d be a miracle you don`t end up on life support", "I`m not worried. My honey bunny will understand once she sees my latest work become a success. The investments I made will be worth it as the newest era of art unfolds!"

Liz, Richard and Daisy looked at one another in confusion over the talk before some hard to understand chatter was heard, followed by the cab pulling away. Footsteps then approached the hedge and the trio held their breathes upon getting a better glimpse of the skunk amid the leaves. He looked like he was in his 40`s, wore glasses, a light purple shirt and blue jeans and had a blonde ponytail while also having the potential to see all of them through their cover. Thankfully though, the skunk didn`t spot the trio as he had his focus on the business in front of him. Like Vianna, he seemed to seriously contemplate whether going in was worth it. However, unlike the doe the skunk didn`t have a time limit.

"Play it safe James. No need to get your cleaning ruined just to get to the hat stands quicker. I`m sure there will be plenty to buy up when I get their", the skunk muttered aloud before walking down the sidewalk to another entrance. Richard leaned forward and watched the skunk until he turned a corner and vanished. "This world is getting more peculiar by the minute", he commented, making Liz and Daisy nod in agreement. "What do we do now? The next animal to walk by might see or smell us", Liz asked.

Before Richard or Daisy could reply, the trio suddenly heard a scream and a crash from the other corner of the mall and awkwardly turned to see what was happening. To their surprise and dismay, they saw a female lynx and a male cat alongside a box of broken plate that were spread out all across the ground. Apparently, the two felines had parked illegally in the back upon finding no good spots in the main area and were quickly carrying the box of plates over to a pawn shop in the mall when it fell from their grip.

As the felines started to argue over whose fault it was that hundreds of valuable plates were now ruined, Daisy hissed, "What do we do now? Do we scare them off or something? We`re so close to that forest and close to somewhere that`s likely isolated", "We wait again. If even one of these animals spots us, who knows what they`d do? They might sound an alarm before we can stop them", Richard replied.

Liz watched the two felines continue to bicker as they bent down to scoop up the plate pieces. As she pondered who they were (feeling they somehow looked familiar despite being from a different world), she suddenly saw some movement in the forest behind the bickering couple. At first she thought it was another anthro animal. Then Liz realized that it wasn`t human or animal, but a drone that was advancing on the unsuspected felines. Before Daisy or Richard could stop her, Liz shouted at the duo to look out behind them.

The lynx and cat looked up in confusion before they noticed the drone, but at that point it was too late. Two quick shots froze the felines solid before they levitated into the sky and vanished. For a moment, it looked like the drone would then go after the source of the shout and find the three humans. However, it ended up hovering around the path to the forest for a few moments before going down the route the humans intended to use.

"Bloody hell. What do we do now? I`m too scared to go to the forest now", Liz quivered. Biting her lip, Daisy looked around urgently while Richard tried to calm his friend down. The You Could Be Prettier store suddenly felt like a safer place to hide, despite the skunks reaction from earlier giving her some distant doubts. "I got it, we can hide in the store", "The store? But we saw that deer go in there. That means we`ll run into the employees, customers, security guards, cameras…", Richard began in dismay.

"I don`t care. I want to go somewhere more secure. I feel like I`m at risk hiding in this hedge. Plus, the leaves are making me itch", Liz said. "There might be a better hiding place for us inside. Maybe Onslow, Rose, Hyacinth and everyone else is also hiding undetected in there. I know it`s a crazy reason, but I`m starting to agree with Liz about this place making me itchy", Daisy added before scratching her arm.

Sighing, Richard nodded in agreement before peering out into the hedges carefully. As he made sure there were no drones or other unwanted prying eyes, he found himself gazing at the store and anxiously wondered what was waiting for him within.

 **Main mall entrance:**

It didn`t take long for Velvet to spot Woola and Devan after she`d drove and parked erratically into the mall parking lot. The second she stepped out of her car, a happy call towards "Aunt Velvet" had her spotting the young sheep running towards her for a hug with his mom not too far behind.

"Aw, hey little guy. You ready for some shopping?", Velvet asked Devan once the hug was over. "We`re not going shopping. It was a cover story mom made up. We`re actually going on a secret mission!", Devan excitedly stated, giving the horse a confused look. "Devan, I forgot to debrief Velvet. It turns out that there`s a secret event Devan, me and Thondy will infiltrate that`s super important. The only thing we need to carry out the mission is to get Devan a clever disguise so that none of the bad guys will see him", Woola explained before winking at Velvet secretly.

Quickly realizing that Woola was basically tricking her son into enjoying a shopping trip, Velvet nodded and said with a salute, "Secret agent Velvet Hairyson here to help you out. I know a good place to get what you need next to this fancy shoe store I really want to investigate",

"Will we get to see Aunt Vee later?", Devan also asked in anticipation as his mother lead the way to the main entrance. "Yes, but not right away. She`s probably busy doing her own secret agent assignment", Woola explained before a bit of her sympathy went out towards the deer. She`d heard from her anthro mouse friend Nichole about the sale taking place at the doe`s work and knew that would end with Vianna exhausted in every way by the time it was over.

As the trio made their way to the mall entrance (with James ducking in unexpectedly before they spotted him), Velvet expected it to be a stress free and fun experience as usual. Little did she know that the idea of a perfect day shopping with her friend and honorary nephew would soon come to an end as the danger kicked off downtown (about ten miles away where Thomas was at working).


	17. Deer Me- Part 3

As Vianna continued to deal with the over demanding customers in her store, as Velvet, Woola and Devan began their secret mission of getting the little sheep the perfect tuxedo and as the three humans got ready to make their move to slip in the mall undetected, Blaire Evans-Keene pulled in front of an arts design building in downtown Seattle.

Looking up to the establishment while getting out of her car, the anthro rabbit bit her lip in a mix of frustration, fear and hope. She knew it was a long shot but Vianna`s advice from earlier seemed to be on her mind. James was crazy about art and this would be a potential place for him to stop by and gather supplies, with the fact that his friend Thomas worked here making it all the more convenient. To top it off, an hour of searching had already been done with no results making Blaire more anxious to search every possible area. Who knew how much her husband had already spent chasing his crazy idea this time?

Before Blaire entered the building, she suddenly heard a loud noise overhead and looked up to see multiple helicopters fly by. "Please don`t be associated with James", she pleaded to herself as she went inside, knowing the sight was something her husband could cause (like his makeshift multi-block lazy river, which had a dozen news choppers at that scene). A part of her mind told her that it could be something positive if it was associated with James, making Blaire ponder some facts for a brief moment.

Ever since they`d met in college Blaire ended up falling for the skunk due to his wild yet caring personality contrasting with her more grounded views (along with the fact that James had a similar personality to an ex-girlfriend, one that Blaire found herself secretly attracted to). She still loved him despite his antics on days when he went off the deep end a bit, like the current one, but knew she`d personally find a way to teach him a lesson before all this was over. He`d need to learn to respect her finances and personal desires to stay out of the unnecessary limelight before any love could be shown again, even if his wild idea did become the next big thing.

Approaching the front desk, Blaire noticed a female cheetah was watching a news broadcast centered at a nearby local park that she`d been to frequently. Clearing her throat, the rabbit got the felines attention and asked, "May I pay a visit to Thomas Millwood? I need to speak with him about something personal", feeling it would be for the best that she didn`t mention James. It could have been possible that he`d slipped by (like he did the previous time he was here, though he`d expressed remorse for the trespassing afterwards on his own). Nodding, the cheetah reached over and gave Blaire a sign in clipboard.

"What`s happening on the news?", Blaire asked looking up at the screen again as she jotted her name and everything else required down, noting shaky footage involving rows of metallic beings in the park. "Some sort of vague and mysterious sighting in the park involving something speculated to be not from the USA. Source isn`t revealing too much yet outside of ramblings", the female cheetah replied as she took the clipboard back. Nodding, Blaire headed towards the elevator wondering what she`d see onscreen. This didn`t seem to have anything to do with hats, so it was more likely than not that James wasn`t involved with the media again, yet.

When Blaire got to the elevator, she reached out to press the up button when it conveniently opened. A dog suddenly dashed out of it and bumped into her hard as he fled for the exit, screaming that the world was coming to an end and getting odd looks from everyone in the lobby. "Yeesh, didn`t know this place had a psycho in the staff", Blaire muttered rubbing the sore area where she got rammed before stepping in the elevator and moving up to the third floor. If that skunk was here, then she`d have something additional to tell him when chewing him out.

At the third floor in his office, Thomas Millwood listened to a customer on his earphone as he simultaneously tried to sketch the ideal drawing being described to him. "I need a lot of stuff to be circular, painted only in red and orange, have only a primary abstract expression and be mostly full of squares. Of, and make sure to add a lot of purple to it as well", the client speaking to Thomas instructed, sounding like they expected perfection in a few split seconds. "Excuse me, mam? Some of your ideas contradict each other. For one, how can your painting have purple in it if you only want red and orange?", Thomas exclaimed before he erased a huge chunk of his painstaking work. "Oh, did I say I want it to also be gothic in tone only? Whatever, I`m sure you can add that to your list of details. You can get this done by tomorrow, can you?", the client on the other end asked cheerfully, not hearing Thomas` logic.

Thomas just gave a cheerful yes. After that, the client thanked him and promised to call back (possibly with more straining on the hand ideas). The deer quickly hung up and leaned back into his chair with a stressful sigh. Feeling it would be best to take a short break to avoid being driven insane, the deer opened a nearby desk drawer and pulled out one of the many, many pens he had.

As he clicked the pen and tried to think of something more positive, his found his mind kept drifting to Vianna. First, it started with the video chat he had with her this morning, followed by memories of him leaving the house to live with Aaron followed by the regrets that came afterwards. Then came to memory of Vianna in her tirades, her rants and her no holds beat downs on those that drove her the wrong way followed by the moments of tranquility where she showed her calmer nature….

"Hey Thomas, you awake?", a voice from the doorway suddenly said, making Thomas jump. Turning around to face the speaker, he saw Blaire watching him from his office entrance. "Oh, Blaire. Strange seeing you here. I thought you had a shift at the animal shelter today", Thomas exclaimed. "Had to cancel my work plans today for something more urgent. Did James drop by earlier for some supplies?", Blaire asked.

Just like Vianna, Thomas put two and two together quickly. "Nope. He wasn`t here today with a crazy art idea. Say, what`s wrong with your arm?", he asked seeing Blaire rub the sore area. "Oh, one of your co-workers here bumped me. Said something about the end of the world", Blaire replied as she secretly felt frustrated again. Damn it. Where was James?

Before Thomas could reply to Blaire's statement about the dog, the rabbits phone suddenly made a noise indicating she got a text. Pulling it out curiously, her eyes widened upon reading the words. "Looks like the universe answered my question", she stated. "What do you mean?", Thomas asked as he took out his ear phone and set it aside. Turning the screen to face him, Blaire showed the deer a text from Vianna:

Found James. Trying to buy all the hats from a stand close to Bubbling Bath and Beauty. Already got some and is hassling vendor for discount on the rest of his remaining merchandise.

This was followed by a picture of James bickering with an anthro dingo vendor near the hat stand, with some passerby in the background starring at them in confusion. "I am so going to give him a piece of my mind for this", Blaire stated, feeling the anger that she felt this morning upon finding the note go through her again. The sore area of her arm suddenly throbbed a bit from the anger, making Blaire let out a small squeal and nearly drop her phone.

Giving Blaire a worried look, Thomas got up and offered her a small bag of ice for her troubles. "No, I`m good. It`s nothing severe" Blaire stated as she texted Vianna to keep James at her store until she arrived to pick him up. "I insist. You look like you could use it", Thomas said as he left his office and gestured the rabbit to follow him to the employee lounge.

Reluctantly, Blaire decided to just go ahead and followed the deer down the hallway. As they neared the destined room, Thomas and Blaire suddenly heard many emergency sirens go off from outside and noticed several employees were quickly leaving the place in a state of panic like dog from earlier. "What`s happening out there?", Blaire asked as she gazed outside a nearby window trying to spot any form of danger. As she scanned the city and noticed many police cars speeding by from a distance amid a fleeing crowd, Thomas suddenly heard a lot of chatter arise from the employee lounge and approached it, letting Blaire make her observations alone.

When Thomas stepped into the room, he noticed more than half of his co-workers were there watching the news. It was the same broadcast that Blaire had seen in the lobby, only this time it appeared to be covering the start of an attack. "Excuse me, what`s going on?", Thomas asked the closest animal to him as he approached and opened the nearby freezer, looked for the ice tray. The co-worker replied by pointing to the broadcast while shaking nervously.

As Thomas stepped away from the freezer to get a better look, he noticed how shaky the camera was and that shots were apparently being fired at the overhead news camera. The reporter on air was sounding extremely frantic. "Again, we`ve got confirmation that an attack by unknown forces have taken place in the area as well as multiple others across the world. Action is being taken against the invaders yet the authorities who have shown up at the park have been overrun by said attackers just moments ago". A wave of worry and muttering formed in the room, prompting three employees to leave as Thomas and everyone continued to watch the broadcast in shock.

The camera managed to stop swaying and gave a better view of the apparent invasion. Thomas could only blink and try to process what he saw while the image zoomed in for a closer look. It looked like an army of robots from a sci-fi novel were appearing out of nowhere and moving out past the park and into more crowded areas. Close by was a more noticeable robot as it was twice as big and copper compared to its silver coated comrades. As it made strange movements, Thomas then spotted something close by it he couldn`t identify. He barely memorized the details of the thing when a blast approached the screen and cut off the feed, leaving only static.

Out of nowhere, a series of loud crashes and many screams were heard below. Everyone around Thomas, already on edge with their fears, quickly started to run out into the hallway for the nearest exits. As they did, Blaire shoved her way into the room and nearly bumped into the deer. "Thomas, I was trying to figure out what was going on outside when I spotted these…metal things appear and fire beams of electricity and ice at anyone they came across! I can`t even believe what I`m telling you even though I just saw it with my own eyes", Blaire exclaimed as she gazed anxiously behind her. As he pulled out his phone and noted there was no reception, Thomas nodded and replied, "I actually do believe you, considering I just saw those metal things on the TV", before briefly gesturing towards the screen.

Another loud boom from downstairs made Blaire and Thomas look at each other worriedly and suddenly think of their friends and loved ones. "We all have to get out of here. How far is the mall?", "Couple minutes away. We can take my car. It`s just outside this building", Blaire responded rushing into the hallway with Thomas behind her. Together, they both made their way to a stairwell and started going down.

"By the way, what exactly did you see on the news report?", Blaire asked Thomas as the duo made their way to the second floor with several more workers rushing out alongside them. Thomas started telling Blaire about the broadcast while he tried to contact Velvet, Vianna, Woola and Aaron (with no luck on anyone thanks to poor wi-fi). As he started to describe the strange copper drone, he reached the ground floor first and approached the lobby.

Out of nowhere, an anthro lizard in front of Thomas suddenly got zapped and frozen before levitating for the exit under a mysterious force. While everyone around them screamed and scattered at this sight, Thomas and Blaire noticed where the source of the attack was coming from. In the middle of the lobby were two of the machines seen on television. One of them was firing electric blasts at its targets, stunning them, while the other froze the stunned victims and encased them in ice.

"There`s the car. If we`re quick we can get past these things", Blaire exclaimed pointing outside past the now ruined main entrance to her vehicle. She started leading the way to the car by staying close to the wall, a fairly safe distance from the two attackers. Thomas began to follow her when the electric drone suddenly spotted the rabbit and fired an electric bolt at her. Letting out a scream, Blaire attempted to evade but got partially hit, leaving her briefly on the ground unable to move.

Seeing the ice drone turn quickly to freeze her, Thomas looked around urgently and grabbed a nearby chair. As he flung it at the ice drone and knocked its blast aside, Blaire let out a groan and managed to get up. The first thing she saw was Thomas backing away from the ice drone as it focused on him while the electric drone continued firing at random targets. "Hey! Back off him!", Blaire shouted, feeling so much adrenaline going through her that her arm no longer hurt. She ran straight forward and punched the distracted drone, knocking it back towards its companion. Quickly, the two drones recovered from the surprise attack and faced the rabbit and deer, completely blocking the entrance and the Keene`s car.

"Looks like we`re taking these things down before we go anywhere, aren`t we?", Thomas asked before ducking to evade an electric blast, suddenly feeling worried about his odds of winning. "Yes we do. Let`s teach them a lesson Vianna style", Blaire replied before the animals and drones charged and collided for an intense fight.

 **Fight 3-1:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Thomas**

 **-Blaire**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-1 Ice Drone**

 **-1 Electric Drone**

After the fight:

Blaire and Thomas only took a moment to observe their victory in the form of two piles of scrap before they quickly sprinted outside. As they nearly slammed into the car, Blaire pulled out a key chain and fumbled to find the key to open her car while Thomas took in the events and chaos around him, nearly driven to his wits end. There appeared to be more electric and freeze drones moving around; zapping anybody they came across and then freezing them and having them levitate into the air and vanish. By the looks of things, half the populace had already been picked off with the other half not far behind.

"Hurry up!", Thomas shouted before lowering his head in an attempt to remain undetected. Without a word, Blaire got to the right key and unlocked her car before sliding into the driver's seat. She basically sped off at 80 miles a split second after Thomas dove in after her into the passenger seat. As Blaire started heading for the mall while trying not to notice too much of the horror taking place outside, Thomas sat up straight and tried using his phone again. He still had zero luck reaching through to anyone and the same thing happened when he borrowed Blaire's phone.

"Please let them be okay", Thomas mumbled over and over again as Blaire saw the route up ahead blocked by a knocked over truck. Glancing around and spotting another route off road, the rabbit managed to quickly buckle up before saying, "Hold on Thomas. We fought like Vianna then and we drive like Velvet now!" Realizing Blaire's intent to mimic his ex-roommates "creative" driving style, Thomas also screamed, buckled up and hugged himself tightly as the car made a sharp swerve.

While Thomas tried his best to not throw up, Blaire gritted her teeth like a carnivore and kept going as far and fast as she could. There was no way she was going to fail at saving her husband and everyone else and she knew that amid his gagging Thomas felt the exact same way to. All they had to do was reach the mall alive.


	18. Deer Me- Part 4

_**A few minutes in the past (before Blaire arrived at Thomas` place of work):**_

After making sure that the cost was clear again, Richard emerged from the hedge close to the You Could Be Prettier store and signaled Liz and Daisy to follow him. As he quickly dashed over to the door and peered inside, noting it looked like any other clothing store back home, he still felt surprised that he agreed with the women about the plan to hide somewhere more public in an area where their species most likely didn`t exist.

"See a lot of animals in there?", Liz loudly whispered as she and Daisy brushed some leaves off their hair and clothing. "I don`t think so. There doesn`t seem to be a lot of shoppers for some reason", Richard replied as he kept looking inside and saw no one from his perspective. "Could be a lucky break. Come on, before that drone comes back and freezes us", Daisy said leaning over and silently opening the door.

Staying close together, the three humans entered the clothing store and looked out for even the slightest bit of danger only to find nothing threatening. On the contrary, the sight of the store secretly amazed all of them as they privately made observations and noted how a business run by animals seemed to perfectly mimic a clothing store run by humans (sans a few differences such as tail holes in the rears of pants and undergarments). As they slowly made their way past a mannequin display (with the mannequins of an anthro mouse and bird showing some slim dresses), Daisy suddenly stopped and looked at some of the nearby clothing. "You know, these animals don`t have a bad sense of fashion. Maybe I could get something here to impress Onslow", she excitedly stated before breaking away from the group to examine a rack of dresses.

Pausing and watching in dismay, Richard and Liz urgently signaled Daisy to come back to them with no success. As the fear of being spotted started to get to her some more, Liz then walked over to Daisy and began to urgently tell her to move. Daisy retorted by insisting they`d be safe to window shop for a minute before asking which of three dresses she had examined looked the prettiest to her.

Before Richard could also walk over to help Liz talk some sense into Daisy he suddenly noticed a nearby shirt rack sway back and forth as if someone had bumped into it, yet saw nobody. Leaving the two women behind for a quick moment to investigate, Richard approached the shirt rack and suddenly felt he was being watched from more than one angle by someone (and he didn`t mean security cameras either).

When he reached the shirt rack, Richard nervously peered behind it and felt the suspense and fear within start to get to him. Luckily, those feelings went down when he saw no one was there. "What a relief", he told himself after giving off a small laugh.

As he turned around to face Liz and Daisy, Richard suddenly heard someone excitedly shout, "TRY SOME PERFUME!", and got a face full of the spray. "AHH!", he screamed, stumbling backwards into the shirt rack and knocking it over. Liz and Daisy, who were still bickering at this point, stopped what they were doing and looked towards Richard in alarm. They saw him hit the ground wiping his eyes in agony and also noticed an anthro female wolf in a pink shirt and purple miniskirt standing over him with a perfume bottle.

"Richard!", "Get away from him!", Liz and Daisy shouted sprinting towards him to help, with the latter shoving the wolf aside before she could spray again. As the two women helped Richard up, Liz noticed three more female anthro animals (a mouse, a pigeon and a rabbit) emerge from cover. They all had the same attire as their wolf co-worker and each held a beauty product in their hand.

As Richards vision returned to him, the three humans found themselves huddled together in fear while the four animal workers circled and examined them at a close distance. "What are these things?" "I`ve never seen a species like them", "Do they bite?", they all asked amongst themselves. "What are they all doing?", Richard nervously whispered to Daisy as Liz hugged him tightly. "By the looks of things, first contact. Let me speak to them", Daisy replied before clearing her throat.

"Listen, we mean no harm and are just passing through. Can you do us a favor and not tell anybody about us? We`re only trying to find a place to stay from any danger", Daisy said, prompting the four animals to stop and take in her words. As she noted the stores name on their uniform, a conversation suddenly broke out among the co-workers. "Do you think she`s telling the truth?", "They don`t look that vicious now that I think about it".

"Good job Daisy. I think we`re safe", Richard congratulated his in-law as he observed the chatter, making Daisy beam with glee a bit. However, it turned out that Richard let his guard down again (along with the rest of his party this time) as the Beauty Brigade suddenly saw an opportunity in the foreign species.

"You know; this could be the biggest marketing opportunity in the history of business. Three ugly aliens walked into our store and emerged to the world the most beautiful things in existence", the anthro wolf excitedly said with dollar signs practically in her eyes. Her co-workers immediately liked the idea and started to critique the three human's appearances while also thinking of beauty products to apply to them in the most judgmental fashion. "She`s too fat", "Too skinny", "He needs to shave that mustache off him", "I suggest putting her into a shirt two sizes too small", "That ugly face could use ten pounds of makeup…at least".

"Wait just a minute. I like how I look and I can also vouch that my friends feel the same way. There`s no need to force us into any makeup or clothing we don`t want", Liz desperately stated, earning her a hiss from the mouse. As Liz nervously hugged Richard again, the rodent pulled out a tube of thick lipstick from her pocket while bitterly saying, "Confidence. I hate confidence. Kills sales", with her co-workers simultaneously agreeing with her as they pulled out some of their own beauty sample products.

As the four Beauty Brigade members began to move in to apply their store products on the trio, Daisy suddenly lunged forward and shoved the anthro pigeon employee aside. "Follow me!", she yelled sprinting to the closest exit she spotted, which lead to the main section of the mall. Without missing a beat, Liz and Richard followed with the Beauty Bridge not far behind screaming suggestions to improve the humans looks to one another. Letting out a funny laugh as she sprinted alongside Daisy, Liz exclaimed, "This almost feels like being around Hyacinth, only with less subtly".

Outside in the main area of the mall Velvet, Woola and Devan neared You Could Be Prettier with the young lamb and horse looking disappointed. "I can`t believe they closed down the fancy shoe store and the kid's tuxedo place for renovations at the same time. What were the odds of that?", Velvet exclaimed in disbelief. "The enemy must have beat us to the punch", Devan said seriously with his fists clenched in frustration.

Smiling a bit at her son's imagination, Woola gently patted him on the shoulder and said, "Don`t worry. I`m sure that the Nacy`s on the others side of the mall is open. They`ve got plenty of tuxedos that will help us out with the mission. Plus, we might see Aunt Vee for a bit if she`s not busy", "Yes!", Devan cheered.

Velvet suddenly noticed You Could Be Prettier and asked, "Why don`t we all stop here for a bit? I could really use some new eye liner", making Woola recoil in surprise when she saw just where her friend wanted to shop. "Velvet, are you crazy? Do you know what this place is?", she exclaimed grabbing her son and making him take a few steps away from the establishment with her. "Yes, one of the best stores in the world! Why what do you have against this place?", Velvet asked baffled. "Remember when I told you about the time I cut through here with Vianna? Those employees are basically vicious thugs with lipstick samples", Woola explained, making Velvet strain a bit to recall that conversation. She and Woola then heard some screams coming towards them, making the sheep state, "Here comes one of many examples. Maybe he or she could tell you what…", before stopping upon seeing who was running out.

Liz, who managed to sprint ahead of Richard and Daisy, screeched to a halt upon seeing Velvet, Woola and Devan. As the human and the animal trio stared at one another, other passerby stopped and starred with equal shock and disbelief at the sight of an unknown creature in their presence. By the time Richard and Daisy reached Liz and also stopped, a fairly sized crowd made up of over two dozen species had gathered.

Seeing the animal crowd as well as many mobile phones pointed at them for some reason, Richard asked nervously, "What do we do now?", as Velvet pulled out her phone and took several photos of him. "Turn around. We`ll come up with another idea as we run", Daisy replied before starting to go away from the entrance. She barley went ten steps when she slammed into the Beauty Brigade, sending the four members stumbling back.

"Oh, you are not leaving without being made prettier!", the rabbit declared with determination as she recovered and tried to get a good aim on Daisy`s face with her spray bottle. "Stay away from her!", Richard exclaimed rushing over to his in-law's aid. As he swatted the perfume bottle away, the mouse saw her lipstick got squished on the side of her skit when she bumped into Daisy. In a fit of anger, she swatted a clawed hand at Richard and nearly slashed his face, making Liz run in to help.

As the two groups in front of her started to fight with more aggressive shots at one another Velvet, Woola and Devan stood in place and watched as if they were in a trace. Even though Woola`s motherly instincts screamed at her to get her son and herself out of the place, she simply found herself having a hard time doing anything other than taking the scene in. Next to her Velvet began to chant, "Fight!", excitedly with no hint as to who she was rooting for. Some other bystanders who either hated the Beauty Brigade with a passion themselves or wanted to see the strange creatures die out of xenophobia joined in on the chant. All the while Richard, Daisy and Liz continued to duke it out with the four animals who intended to beautify them.

 **Fight 3-2:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Richard**

 **-Liz**

 **-Daisy**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-4 Employees from You Could Be Prettier**

After the fight:

Velvet watched in shock as the last Brigade member was knocked out. As the employee hit the ground unconscious next to her co-workers with Richard, Liz and Daisy taking a weary step back from them, a few onlookers cheered while everyone else sounded anxious or even hateful towards the trio, though a fear in the air kept anyone from directly confronting them. "Mom, what just happened?", Devan (who watched the fight with awe) asked in a sudden confused tone, prompting Velvet to take her eyes off the mysterious creatures. Woola finally snapped out of her own shock and started to pull her son away. "We`re not safe here. Come on Velvet", she urgently said over the chatter as she started to brush by the bystanders with Devan beginning to protest, wanting to see more of the mystery species in action.

Before Velvet could take a step, she suddenly heard several sirens go off from outside followed by a loud whistle. Someone brushed past the crowd of onlookers and her hard enough nearly knocked the horse down. As she got up, it took Velvet a moment to realize a SWAT team in heavy armored vests with equally heavy shotguns had shown up to handle to unknown species. Someone in the crowd had called the Feds during the whole fight and by the looks of things they managed to respond very fast.

At this point the trio had turned around looking petrified at the sight of several armed animals approaching them with their weapons pointed at their heads. "Wait! You don`t understand. It`s not what it looks like. Those saleswomen tried to attack us with their products", the thinner female managed to say while pointing to the Beauty Brigade, only to be replied with a "Shut up! Lay on the ground now!", from the head of the team (a beagle with a military past). Velvet began wondering if the three creatures would obey or attack again when out of nowhere a loud blast was heard.

To everyone's horror, the beagle was frozen completely solid and the source, a stray ice drone, appeared out of nowhere behind the partially scattered crowd. As the chaos erupted within the mall the ice drone aimed at the huge skylight on the roof above it and fired some more blasts. Following this, many more ice and electric drones made a surprise ambush by barging from some of the nearby entrance/exit`s.

Left and right, shoppers were getting zapped and/or frozen with Velvet crawling away for cover and calling for Woola and Devan. As the beagle began to levitate into the air from the newly created hole in the roof along with all the other frozen animals, the remaining SWAT members shot at the drones, only to be quickly picked off.

Seeing an opportunity when all the SWAT members were captured and pulled from the store, Richard glanced around desperately and spotted a lever close the main entrance/exit on the nearby wall, which had writing saying "open gate" above it and "close gate" below it. Before Liz or Daisy could react, he sprinted forward and pulled the lever down to the close option.

A brief ringing sound was heard followed by a heavy, thick metal barrier moving down at a fare pace. As the barrier reached the halfway point of closing, several blasts from the drones flew into the shop and nearly hit the two women while knocked over several nearby clothing displays. "Take cover!", Liz shouted before running for a large shelf behind her.

Liz and Daisy both dove behind the shelf and curled up while Richard ran off towards a cashier booth towards the side and hid behind there. Several more blasts flew in the store and one drone who got shoved back rammed into the barrier before it fully closed, blocking the sights and sounds of horror.

After a few moments, Richard peered out from behind the registers and sighed with relief before standing up. Liz and Daisy also emerged from behind their cover and quickly walked over to him, with Liz notably looking distressed. "I can`t believe what we just did. All those animals, the attacks. The worst of our fears have come true. We`re almost reliving what happened back home", she exclaimed on the verge of tears. As Daisy gave her a hug to calm her down, Richard glanced over at the knocked out Beauty Brigade members to confirm to himself that the fight really happened. Trying not to let all the shock get to him, he nervously swallowed and said, "Perhaps it`d be best if we figure out what to do next at this point. Won`t be a good idea to sit around doing nothing". Liz regained some of her composure and gave a faint nod while Daisy added that brainstorming sounded like a good idea for now. After a few moments of thought, her face then lit up with an idea.

"Personally, I`d feel better if we had a weapon or something powerful to use against those drones. All those punches I threw earlier are starting to hurt my hands. Maybe there`s something we could use here?", she suggested while Liz gently broke off the hug. "A weapon? In a clothing store? Like what? I doubt those samples the employees tried to make us wear will help", Richard exclaimed. "Well, I think Daisy has a point. I`d feel more secure leaving this place with something to defend myself", Liz replied.

Before the conversation could be taken any farther, the trio suddenly heard something pounding at the barrier from their side and turned to see what it was. To their surprise, they saw a young anthro male sheep desperately hitting the barrier in a feeble attempt to get out while looking around nervously. "Mom! Help!", he cried as the trio approached his cautiously. The second he noticed the humans approaching him, the sheep fell against the barrier and became petrified. As Richard, Liz and Daisy stood in front of him and looked down, unsure what to say, the sheep managed to whimper, "Please, don`t hurt me".


	19. Deer Me- Part 5

**(A few minutes before the human's fight with the Beauty Brigade):**

As business at the Bubbling Bath & Beauty managed to slow down to a near stop after a frantic opening hour, Vianna found herself feeling at ease. Yes, the day was far from over and she`d probably end up with another wave of over demanding shoppers soon enough, but after working here for a while and dealing with what felt like a million shoppers today already she knew it was best to enjoy the calm before the storm.

Leaving the counter to rearrange some supplies on the shelves, the doe bobbed her head to Margaret's "Cool Me Down" as it played on the stores speakers. Behind her, Rasha was preoccupied talking to Cory about her upcoming wedding again with the poodle paying only half attention to the description of her new dress as he gazed out the store, with the talk of the event bringing his mind to his own love life.

Vianna walked over to a window display to readjust a tilted sign when she suddenly saw someone familiar walk past. Blinking, the doe walked over to the stores main entrance to get a better look and confirmed her suspicions immediately. Who she saw was James Keene approaching a nearby hat stand with one of Blaire`s cards at hand. As he started talking to the vendor, Vianna pulled out her phone with her conversation she had with Blaire running through her mind again. There was no way she`d let James drive him and his wife into bankruptcy on her watch.

As she started texting, she noticed that James and the anthro dingo hat vendor had quickly started bickering over prices. "Why won`t I give you a 40% discount? Obvious. For one, you`re claims about it being for art are weak at best", "No it`s not. I`m starting to create a whole new era", James retorted as Vianna snapped a photo of him. She had barely sent the text and photo to Blaire when two teenage raccoons ran by, almost bumping into the deer.

"Hey, watch it!", she declared. Apparently, the duo didn`t hear her as they talked loudly in disbelief to each other. "This isn`t a hoax or anything?", "No way. You Could Be Prettier…" Vianna didn`t catch the last part of the second teenagers sentence but she did end up frowning at the name of the dreaded store. She then noticed a few shoppers were heading towards the stores direction as well, all of them looking at their phones in disbelief. As she kept her eye on James and his continuing argument, Vianna pondered exactly what the big deal was with the store. She didn`t get far on that train of thought thanks to her boss calling her. "Vianna, I need you back in here. Place will be a lot harder to run with just me and one employee", Cory said, snapping out of his daydream as Rasha finished talking.

"Sorry Cory. I just saw James", Vianna replied putting her phone away and getting Cory`s full attention. "James, here? You sure it`s the right skunk?", the poodle asked, surprised that his open relationship boyfriend would even swing by the place today. "Yep, he`s out by the hat stand and about to make a big mistake with he and his wife's money", Vianna answered before going out towards the hat stand with Cory following from behind.

As the dingo vendor shouted at James to get away from his stand, the skunk backed away looking surprised. Then, the sound of someone`s throat clearing made him spin around in even more shock. "Oh, Vianna. Fancy meeting you here. Have you heard from Thomas recently? I was trying to ask about this guy's night me, him and my other friends planned out", he exclaimed with a nervous laugh upon noting the doe and her stern gaze. "James. Good to see you to", Cory replied as he appeared behind his employee looking both pleased and disapproving at the same time. James approached Cory to give him a hug but a raised hand from Vianna blocked him. "Don`t try to charm your way out of this James. I got the call from Blaire about you and her cards. Hand them over", she ordered, making it clear that no wasn`t an option.

"C`mon Vianna. I`m just doing a bit of shopping. Plus, it`s for a good cause in the form of art and thrills", James weakly retorted as Cory also gave him a stern look, knowing James` "artistic" habits by heart just like all his other friends. A bunch of shocked cries and gasps were heard all the way down the mall as the skunk finally gave up and handed Vianna all the credit cards in his pocket.

"What the heck is going on over there?", Cory asked as he glanced in the direction all the noise was coming from. More shoppers seemed to be approaching the source of the sound while a few others were running away as if they`d seen a ghost.

"Maybe it`s a publicity stunt or something? I don`t know. Considering what those You Could Be Prettier girls do every day, it was inevitable they`d do something that really crossed the line", Vianna guessed before addressing James again, who unsuccessfully tried to slip away.

"Come along. You`re going to wait with me and Cory in his store for Blaire", "What? There`s no need to. I`m a grown man", James retorted, secretly starting to fear how his wife would react to his ideas for the first time since he woke up. To his surprise, Cory put a hand on his shoulder and said, "Sorry James, but I`m with Vianna on this one. I don`t trust you running out on your own. This is for your own good", before noticing a few nearby store owners were shooing out all their customers, closing their shops and locking up the gates with looks of worry on their faces. A look of worry quickly appeared on his face as well.

As Vianna started to drag James towards Bubbling Bath and Beauty with the skunk slightly resisting, there was a loud shout down the mall followed by a bunch of SWAT team members rushing by. The sound of alarms followed by the sounds of a huge attack quickly followed, prompting almost everyone close by to start running for the closest exit they could find. Some of the shoppers, seeing an opportunity, ran into the still open stores and started looting anything they could get their hands on, with one of them throwing a trash can at a window and setting off another alarm.

Stopping just in front of the store, Vianna and James quickly spotted a lot of drones turning a corner and firing at the fleeing shoppers, freezing them completely. As he watched the dingo at the hat stand get frozen and then levitate into the sky towards a window above him, James gulped nervously and said, "On second thought, maybe some time in the Bubbling Bath and Beauty would be nice" before rushing into the establishment. Vianna and Cory stayed out a moment longer to note just who was attacking the place before they followed the skunk inside.

"Vianna? Cory? What`s going on out there?", Rasha asked from behind the counter as she watched the trio run back in the store horrified while many shoppers sprinted by screaming in horror. James, who went towards the counter for cover, grabbed the anthro gazelle and exclaimed in a panicked voice, "It`s the end of the world! Like one of those campy horror films but real!", "James, keep calm. Rasha, go in the back and lock the rear exit. Vianna, help me close the gate in front of the store", Cory ordered as he saw one of the drones hover by from behind (thankfully deciding to follow some of the shoppers who ran by instead of him).

Rasha swatted James` hands off her shoulders and ran for the back while Vianna and Cory reached the gate above them and tried to get it down. To their surprise, the thing refused to budge no matter how hard the duo pulled. "Great. Out of all the problems that could happened in a store it just had to be this one!", Vianna exclaimed as she gritted her teeth and kept yanking downward. Several drones passed the store, prompting Cory to stop and pull Vianna out of sight with him while James ducked behind the counter.

None of the drones approached the store as they were also chasing the shoppers who were running for the outside. As soon as they were sure all the drones had passed, the three animal peered out of cover while Rasha returned from the back. "Back entrance is locked", she reported as she approached her boss. Nodding, Cory walked to the gate again and said, "Good to know. Now help me and Vianna lower this stubborn…"

Out of nowhere, a glass bottle flew through the air and hit the poodle right in the forehead, making him hit the ground barely conscious and bleeding. "Cory! No!", James shouted running to his boyfriend while Vianna quickly crouched down to examine him. She barely got a good look at the bloody wound when a shout was heard coming for her. Vianna looked up just in time to see a heavy boot going for her head.

 **Prompt:** **Square button**

 **Hit in time-** Quickly raising her arm, Vianna blocked the kick and sent her attacker stumbling back with a counter shove. The doe then stood up and prepared to block the next move against her, only for the attacker along with two others to shove their way past her. James then got to her and Cory looking alarmed. "You okay?", he asked. "Don`t worry. It was nothing", Vianna replied.

 **Failed to press-** Before Vianna could raise her arm to block the attack, the boot made contact with her head and knocked her flat on the ground. Gritting her teeth as the attacker and two others ran past her, Vianna started to get up on her own, only for James to come over and help her up. "You okay?", he asked as she rubbed her head and straightened her mask. "Don`t worry. I`ve gotten worse headaches from Thomas` annoying jokes", she replied. **(Vianna: -5% health)**

Vianna then got a better look at the attackers and noted an anthro cheetah, otter and pit bull were running around and knocking down shelves of beauty products or taking anything that looked expensive. Rasha leaned against a nearby shelf and watched in absolute fear as the otter jumped on the counter, grabbed the register and flung it to the floor in an attempt to break it. Before Vianna could retaliate with some justifiable rage, James raised his hand and said, "Help Cory. I`ve got this" and angrily approached the closest rioter which was the cheetah.

"Hey! What the hell is wrong with you? Someone`s injured and you`re trashing the place like barbarians!", James exclaimed, making the cheetah stop destroying displays with a look of malice on his face. "C`mon! With all the chaos outside I say it`s a good idea to release some bottled up energy. Live a little!", the feline retorted rowdily before smashing a nearby table with a small price sign. Realizing he was being ignored, James looked at Cory as he let out a moan and clenched his fist, the sight overwhelming him within. Before he could stop himself, the skunk found himself hitting the cheetah in the back of the head so hard that it made him fall headfirst into a display.

The otter and the pit bull stopped trashing the place and looked up completely caught off guard. As the cheetah got up slowly, the pit bull teasingly exclaimed, "Oooo…", knowing James was really going to get it now. "So you wanna fight dirty? Here`s dirty", the cheetah growled before throwing a punch aimed below the skunk's belt.

 **Prompt:** **X button**

 **Pressed in time-** James quickly grabbed the cheetahs fist in midair and kicked the feline in the foot, sending him to the ground. As the cheetah clutched his leg in pain, the pit bull flexed his muscles menacingly and approached the skunk. "Well, well, well. Looks like someone`s giving the impression they stand a chance in a real fight". James let out a nervous yelp as the dog towered him, only for Vianna to appear by the skunk's side. "Help Cory. I`ve got this", she ordered as Cory tried to sit up behind them. Nodding, James backed away to his boyfriend without taking his eyes off the dog.

 **Failed to press-** Before James could grab the cheetahs fist he felt a sharp pain between his legs and stumbled back into the closest wall, giving off a pained yelp. The cheetah laughed at the skunk as he tried his best to shake off all the discomfort as quickly as possible. Then, before the feline could make another move, Vianna charged out of nowhere at him and head-butted him so hard he hit the ground in pain. "Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Someone's angsty today", the pit bull exclaimed as he approached Vianna menacingly. James, feeling it would be best to let Vianna do her usual thing to the male, quickly limped over to Cory as he tried to sit up. His boyfriend needed him now more than ever. **(James: -5% health)**

"Better stand down before I do something that you`ll regret", the pit bull exclaimed, threatening Vianna. Behind him, the otter pulled out a knife and jimmied open the register while Rasha observed all the chaos taking place in and out of the store, becoming more terrified by the second.

As Vianna got ready to give the thug dog a beating he`d never forget, the cheetah suddenly tripped her with one of his legs and made her stumble forward. Taking advantage, the dog charged and grabbed her before changing directions for the wall near the entrance, intending to ram the deer into it as hard as he could.

 **Prompt: Triangle button**

 **Hit in time:** Unfortunately for the pit bull, Vianna managed to foil his plan by kneeing him in the gut. The pit bull let out a gasp and stopped running just short of the wall. Throwing a punch and a kick, Vianna then sent the dog away from her dazed with a look of victory on her face.

 **Failed to press:** Before Vianna could react, she found herself smashed into the wall and nearly hit the ground while gritting her teeth. As the pit bull laughed at her expense, the doe quickly retaliated by swallowing her pain and springing up to deliver a hard punch to the jaw. As Vianna stretched and shook off the remaining pain away, the pit bull wobbled backwards and slightly dazed. **(Vianna: -5% health)**

Seeing the pit bull at a disadvantage, Vianna prepared to give the dog some more pain when out of nowhere James shouted for her to watch her head. A heavy bottle of shampoo flew by with the target being the dog. Unfortunately, it missed and hit the otter instead. "Ow! Who did that?!", the otter yelled standing up eagerly to stab the assailant. It took him less than five seconds to pinpoint James as the guilty party.

As he approached, James backed up but still stood defensively in front of Cory, who was leaning against a table close to the entrance. "Hey, no need to overreact. Right?", the skunk said through a nervous grin. Vianna was about to deliver a kick to the otter herself as he passed her when the pit bull fully recovered and charged at the doe again; this time throwing a lot of punches that Vianna slightly struggled to block.

Without the doe to back him up, James found himself on his own as the otter took a swing at him. Quickly, the skunk grabbed the otters knife hand and kept him at bay by making it impossible for him to move said arm in a tight grip, though the otter gave quite a struggle. "Rasha! Help!", James shouted. From where she stood, Rasha watched her co-worker and her boss's lover both fight while the cheetah slowly got up looking ready to make things harder for the duo. Without warning, the gazelle sprinted past everyone to the exit and out of sight.

Vianna`s jaws nearly dropped at the action her co-worker took. Seeing her do something that selfish unlocked another level of rage in the doe as the cheetah reached the fight to help the canine. Without warning, Vianna grabbed both of the pit bulls arms and flung him onto the cheetah. With those two out of the way, she then ran to the otter and punched his jaw, making him drop the knife and stumble back to his co-rioters.

"I`m okay. Not even a scratch", James told Vianna as the pit bull and cheetah got up. Seeing the look of murder in their eyes made Vianna thirsty for more fighting. "This is going to be a real thrill", she said approaching them. To James` surprise, Cory suddenly let out another moan and said, "Help her James. I don`t want to see my employee fight all by herself". Nodding, James nervously followed Vianna into the skirmish that unfolded and nearly lost himself to the fear as the punches started getting thrown.

 **Fight 3-3:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Vianna**

 **-James**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-3 rioters**

After the fight:

(The scene plays out the same, with the only difference being whoever the last rioter standing was): The cheetah/pit bull/otter looked in shock as his accomplices lay on the ground unconscious. How could this be? They all had the numbers and the better odds from the start. A sudden shout got his attention and the last thing he saw was an angry doe hitting him a dozen times in the head and sending him into one of the store display windows, cracked it. The final rioter hit the ground silently and unconscious.

Vianna and James looked at their defeated foes and the damaged store in stunned silence for a moment while they caught their breathes. "Can`t believe what I did. Blaire wouldn`t think I was telling the truth if I told her what happened", James exclaimed in a bit of a daze before approaching Cory, who had managed to stand up.

As she saw her boss lean against the table still looking pained, Vianna stated with concern, "Take it easy Cory. You were hit pretty hard", "It`s okay. I`ve been in the business world for over a decade. I know a thing or two about headaches", Cory exclaimed, though his attempt at a joke didn`t make James or Vianna laugh.

"This is serious. Are there any medical supplies nearby?", James asked. "There`s a first aid kit under the counter. Think that will help", the poodle stated as he gestured towards it, prompting the skunk to run over. As Cory nearly stumbled, Vianna caught him and told him to take it easy. "Ow…Wait, where`s Rasha? I didn`t see everything that happened during the whole ordeal", "She just bailed on us when me and James were in real peril with those thugs. She basically took the cowards way out", Vianna replied to the poodle. Frowning, Cory could only reply, "If we all survive this…whatever is happening, I`m going to have some pretty harsh words for her. Two in fact", before James returned with the kit.

After the wounded area was cleaned and covered in a thick bandage, Cory looked around the store. "Now that I think about it, we probably won`t be safe here. Best leave the mall and find somewhere else to stay until whatever is happening out there ends. Maybe my house will be the perfect base to hunker down", he said. As he glanced at the unconscious otter and recalled the knife, James nodded in agreement. Feeling that it would be best not to argue, Vianna also agreed and lead the way out with Cory leaned against James for support.

Glancing up and down the mall, Vianna saw so much destruction around her that she actually didn`t know where she was for a moment. Every store seemed to be trashed and patches of ice coated the wall and the ceiling. James and Cory were equally shocked by the ruined interior as they stepped out of Bubbling Bath and Beauty. "Damn", was all James could say, suddenly worrying where Blaire was and if her current whereabouts were safer than his.

"Which way do we go?", Cory asked as he readjusted his balance to stand up a bit taller. Vianna was about to suggest the East end of the mall on a whim (since it was the closest exit and didn`t involve passing the You Could Be Prettier store) when she suddenly saw five drones hover by from that direction, combing a nearby Radio Schmuck store.

"On the other hand, we`ll go to the west end exit", Vianna said in alarm as she ran over and supported herself on Cory's other side. Together, the trio moved steadily and carefully down the opposite direction of the mall hoping that they'd get away unseen. Luckily, all the drones didn`t spot them as they turned at the corner and went out of sight.

As the anthro animals made their way down the practically deserted building, they all took a good look at their surroundings. "This is where we heard the chaos earlier", Cory noted as he saw more ice, personal knickknacks and even a few bloodstains littering the ground. Vianna squirmed as she nearly stepped on one of the blood spatters and muttered, "Disturbing", to herself before worrying if the blood was from someone she knew.

James glanced back to make sure the group wasn`t being followed before asking, "Who the heck were those attackers even? I know I compared them to bad movie monsters or something but it still seems like the wrong description for some reason", and tried not to imagine a surprise ambush waiting for him when he stepped outside. "Personally, I`m more concerned with staying away from those things and making sure everyone else besides us is safe. Velvet, Woola, Devan and everyone in our social circle could be in peril as we speak", Vianna answered.

As she stepped over a destroyed mannequin (getting a scare for a moment prior that it was an actual corpse), Vianna looked ahead for any danger and noted the dreaded beauty store was shut down tight. Cory suddenly let out a gasp and nearly collapsed from the pain he felt. His head began throb amid its light inner feeling and his vision slightly blurred. "Cory! Vianna, set him down at that bench!", James exclaimed as he quickly lead his boyfriend to one near a photo booth.

Gently, Vianna and James set the poodle down at the bench and he leaned back to ease some pain. "Don`t…don`t worry about me. I just need to rest for a minute", the poodle stated, though James didn`t look convinced. "Know any places that sell pain meds? Those could come in handy right now", the skunk asked Vianna. "There`s a store that sells some emergency supplies a little farther down the way we were going, though I don`t know if pain med is in their stock", Vianna replied, only for the second part of her sentence to be ignored as James went off in the direction she pointed.

Alone with her injured boss, Vianna wondered what to do next when her phone suddenly signaled her that she got a text message. Quickly pulling it out as she walked over to Cory and stood next to the photo booth, Vianna noted in excitement that the text was from Thomas. "What does it say?", Cory asked as he glanced at the screen for a moment. "Thomas says that he and Blaire are coming over to pick us up. Glad to know someone besides us is okay…I mean…", Vianna began before recalling the head injury.

Cory gave Vianna a look that said "No offense" before the doe attempted to text Thomas back, only to discover the wi-fi in the area had suddenly stopped working. Before Vianna could react to that in a form of frustration, something reached out of the photo booth and grabbed the doe with no warning.


	20. Deer Me- Part 6

Vianna let out a panicked yelp as she struggled against whatever had grabbed her, thinking it was one of the drones she`d seen earlier. Cory attempted to stand up (forgetting about his injury at the moment) while James (who was quickly coming back to Cory to tell him the store he was looking for was encased in ice) returned to the area and saw Vianna`s predicament. The two males tried to come to Vianna`s aid, but the doe shouted for them to stay back before slamming an elbow into the assailant through the booths curtain. A sharp cry of pain came from inside and Vianna was let go, stumbling forward a bit.

Right away, Vianna spun around ready to fight again and got shocked to see a familiar horse fall out of the photo booth clutching her stomach. "Really knocked the wind out of me", Velvet Hairyson could only gasp before she crawled out into the open. Behind her, Woola also emerged looking a bit apprehensive but also relieved.

"Woola?! Velvet?", Vianna exclaimed in shock and surprise, ecstatic to see two of her friends were okay as she carefully helping Velvet up. "Vianna!? James!? Thank goodness you`re both still alive. And Cory…Oh no, your head. What happened?", Woola exclaimed hugging Vianna before noticing the poodles head injury and approached him looking alarmed. "I`m fine. I just need to take it easy for a while", Cory said waving Woola away, despite the fact that his head started to throb a little again.

As all the reunion greetings were given and Velvet fully recovered from the hit she took, Vianna asked, "What happened here? And where`s Devan? I thought you told me yesterday that you`d be shopping with him Woola", sounding concerned when she realized the little lamb was nowhere in sight. Before Woola could say a word, Velvet let out a long, quick and panicked answer, prompting the sheep to suddenly rush over to the closed off store and try to open the barrier, with no luck.

"Oh Vianna, it was just awful! These strange creatures showed up and beat up the Beauty Brigade and then these robots appeared out of nowhere and were freezing everyone and making them disappear! Devan got separated from Woola during the chaos and slid into the store before it closed and then the two of us hid in the photo booth and waited for things to pass by since we felt it would be too dangerous to fight any of the robots head on! After a while the place quieted down and we left the booth to get Devan from the store but we couldn`t pull up the barrier. Then another older creature that was the same species as the fighters appeared out of nowhere on a bike and then disappeared in midair, making us feel that it would be safe hide again because we thought it meant that more of those dangerous robots would show up! Then we heard you, Cory and James but I thought it was a trick the robots were using the lure us out so I waited until you got close enough…"

During Velvets near panic explanation, Vianna tried to cut in several times to ask a question to no success while also getting worried by what she was hearing. Strange creatures? Devan inside You Could Be Prettier? An old person riding by on a bike? Before she could raise her voice and tell Velvet to shut up for a moment, Cory beat her to the punch by giving out a loud bark. Right away, Velvet stopped talking and looked at the poodle in surprise.

"Settle down Velvet. Panicking won`t do anyone any favors. Woola, is Devan inside the You Could Be Prettier store?", Cory asked slowly standing up on his own as he attempted to ease the tension. "Yes. And he`s in there with these…unknown creatures. I mean, they didn`t look that violent or anything, but that doesn`t guarantee they`re safe. I…I…I`m worried what they`ll do to Devan if they find him. From what I saw before the store closed, the three things were preoccupied during the attack when Devan went inside, so he probably took advantage and hid somewhere", Woola answered from the closed entrance as she tried not to let the anxiety get to her, the unknown fate of her son making her more concerned by the second. Her failure to open the store again didn`t help matters either.

James, still reeling from Velvets rant, was the first to reply to Woola`s statement in confusion. "Wait, what`s she talking about? Are you sure the three…things weren't just more of those drone…things?", he asked. Shaking her head no, Velvet pulled out her phone to show him and Vianna the photos she took. As they starred at the photos, James` jaws dropped while Vianna looked baffled by the old and furless creatures.

To Vianna, these creatures didn`t look that dangerous to her. The expressions on their faces seemed to say fear more than deadly and the closest thing to a threat from their appearance was their oddly foreign and outdated clothing. However, looks could be deceiving and the doe felt that dangerous or not, finding and getting Devan out of the store and away from them was defiantly the top priority.

"Stand aside Woola. I`ll open that barrier", the doe urgently said as she approached her friend. As Woola stepped aside and Vianna quickly flexed her arms before bending down to lift, James exclaimed, "Wait. Is that a good idea? What if those creatures spit acid or bite?", "Then I`ll teach them a lesson. After that brawl with the rioters I think I can handle anything. Now be quiet and let me focus", Vianna replied aggressively as her efforts made the barrier finally move up an inch. "Rioters?", Velvet asked surprised as she glanced at Cory while putting her phone away. "It`s a long story. Probably best if I tell you later", Cory replied as he tried not to let his worries or headache bother him.

Everyone watched as Vianna slowly made progress, with Woola quickly joining in to help her friend when it looked like she was starting to fail. Velvet and Cory both began to walk forward with the horse planning to help again while James nervously took a step back, wondering what would be waiting for them once the entrance was fully opened. A scream from behind him suddenly made the skunk and everyone look back and gasp in horror. About a dozen drones (who had come back inside to scout for any survivors after freezing everyone they could find outside) had appeared from the corner chasing the former knife wielding otter blasting at him. When the marsupial got frozen, it didn`t take long for the mechanical foes to then notice the group of animals in front of them.

Letting out a scream of panic, James rushed for the door and nearly slipped while Velvet helped escort Cory to the entrance herself. As the ice blasts hit the barrier around them, Vianna and Woola saw all their companions approach and help pull it up as well, with Cory contributing as much as everyone else while ignoring the heaviest pounding he felt in his head thus far. Once the barrier was high enough to slip under, Woola ducked inside and ran into the store first followed by Velvet. The second they spotted the knocked out Beauty Brigade members, the duo became stunned in fear.

"Vianna, get Cory inside. I think I can hold this up just long enough!", James exclaimed straining to hold up more weight than he could manage as he stood next to the deer. "No, you go in first. I`ve got this!", Vianna insisted as a blast of electricity nearly hit her head.

Out of nowhere, Cory let go of the barrier but instead of running inside, he approached Vianna and James and shoved them forward. As Vianna and James fell into the store and hit the ground, they watched what happened next in what felt like slow motion. The poodle got hit in the back by multiple blasts the deer and skunk didn`t notice were fired at them. Before the barrier slammed shut again, Cory's whole body was completely encased in ice. Seconds later, the drones began to ram and fire at the barrier in an attempt to get in.

Inside You Could Be Prettier James and Vianna stood up and backed away from the entrance in shock with Velvet and Woola as they snapped out of their revelation from their discovery. After what felt like a minute had passed with the drones not making any progress getting in, Velvet nervously asked if all of them would be okay right before she noticed Cory was gone. The look on her friend's faces confirmed the worst had happened, much to her and Woola`s horror.

"No. Cory", James finally managed to say, sounding like he was on the verge of despair and panic. "I`m so sorry James. I don`t know how that could have happened. Things just went by so fast…", Velvet said before losing her train of thought to her emotions. As she and Woola gave the skunk a hug, Vianna shook her head in disbelief. "I don`t know why he did that. We all could have made it if he said something. Then again, nobody was thinking completely straight at that moment", she told herself trying to find a reason as to why this tragedy happened.

As James, Woola and Velvet ended their hug, Woola patted the skunk on the shoulder and said, "I know it`s hard, but we all have to stay strong for Cory`s sake. It`s what he would want us to do at this point", before glancing at the unconscious Beauty Brigade members and feeling another wave of dread. "I know. I just wish…Damn. What am I going to tell Blaire if I see her again?", James asked before his fears of Blaire`s unknown fate clouded his mind again.

"I think you will see Blaire again. Thomas texted me not too long ago and said that he and Blaire are on their way here", Vianna said, which made the skunks mood lighten up a bit along with the others. "Okay. We have a way to leave. What do we do next", he asked? "I suggest we find Devan before we leave the mall. Afterwards, we might try and find a way to bring Cory and everyone else back. There might be a way to make those robots do that or something", Woola stated, making Velvet and Vianna nod in agreement.

As Woola then looked around the store and tried to keep calm, she noted that neither the three creatures or her son were in sight. Before she could loudly shout Devan`s name, Velvet noticed and covered her mouth, whispering nervously, "Wait, if those things are lingering around it could be a bad idea to get their attention, though considering how much noise we made getting in you`d think they`d come over to check what the rackets about", "Maybe they ran out through the back entrance or are hard of hearing?", James suggested apprehensively as he took off his glasses to wipe away some tears that were still forming.

"I`ll go take a look outside. James, stick with me. Woola. Velvet. What do you two want to do?", Vianna asked, taking a bit of command. "Look around. Like I said, Devan may be hiding somewhere to keep safe from any threats", Woola replied. "Well, good enough plan for the moment. If any of us see the creatures, holler. If it`s Devan, try to find the other party without making too much noise", Vianna responded while looking around for any conscious signs of life.

With that said, Vianna and James snuck towards the back exit while Woola and Velvet carefully made their way through the store with the drone's attack on the barrier ominously remaining behind them.

While the horse and sheep started to comb a clothing section in the middle of the store, looked in any potential hiding spots and called out the little sheep`s name, Vianna and James reached the back door and slowly peered out. They noted the drones hovering outside and the chaos in the distance before ducking back inside. "I hope Devan didn`t run out there. He`d be a goner in less than five minutes", Vianna told the skunk, trying not to picture that scenario. James couldn`t help but shutter at the thought, not wanting to have a back to back lose to deal with.

A sudden sound of a glass breaking made the duo spin and look towards the source, which was the perfume counter. "Maybe that was Devan?", James asked, hoping his crazy answer was true. Silently, Vianna headed for the perfume section to investigate with James staying back to block the exit with anything close by he could find to keep any drones from coming in.

When Vianna got to the perfume booth she found her heart beating as loud as it could. Taking a deep breath, the doe took another few steps forward and found herself bumping into Velvet. After both females barely held back a scream, Vianna exclaimed, "Velvet? What are you doing here by yourself? I thought you`d be working with Woola", "Woola wanted to check out the employees only section close by and I told her we could split up since I thought looking near this place was the better idea. Figured we could cover more ground that way", Velvet answered as she obviously hid something behind her back.

Seeing this right away, Vianna reached out quickly and grabbed an open perfume bottle from the horse before she could react. "Seriously Velvet? You`re trying out perfume at a time like this?", Vianna exclaimed in disbelief. "I really like this store and I wanted to try something out one last time before we leave. I mean, what if we never come back here?", Velvet asked, though none of her sadness and attempts at pity got through Vianna`s annoyance.

A split second after the doe tossed the bottle aside, Woola`s nearby scream got her and everyone else`s attention. "WOOLA!?", Vianna called sprinting towards her friend with Velvet right behind her. The doe and horse made it to the location where the sound came from in less than ten seconds. To their shock, they saw the sheep on the ground face first and unmoving. Near the employees only room and less than ten feet away were the three weird creatures Velvet had photographed and watched earlier.

"Woola!?", Velvet exclaimed crouching down to inspect her as Vianna stood protectively in front of her friends and glared at the unknown creatures. After everything she dealt with recently as well as the sight of her sheep friend in her current state, any earlier ambiguity she had towards the unknowns in front of her were replaced with true hostility. "What did you do to my friend?!", she demanded feeling rage course through her again. She swore to herself that if the trio made one wrong move, they`d end up worse than the sheep.

Richard, Daisy and Liz looked fearful at the enraged doe in front of them and took a step back towards the employees only section. Seeing the doe respond by taking one step forward and looing ready to strike, Liz gave a quick answer fast. "You don`t understand. We didn`t do anything to her. She just stumbled back in surprise when she saw us and slipped on that shirt", she exclaimed, pointing at the article of clothing that lay on the floor close by.

The horse behind the doe suddenly stood up and told her, "She`s alive. Just unconscious", making the doe settle down only by a tiny margin. "Of course she is. We didn`t lay a hand on her", Daisy exclaimed as the horse then eyed her wearily, apparently debating whether or not she and Liz was telling the truth.

After a minute passed with the standoff not settling down, Richard cleared his throat nervously and said, "I know this is hard to comprehend, but even though we`re not officially from this world we are not a threat to anyone", "Not from this world? Vianna, are they aliens?", Velvet asked fearfully, recalling James` mention of deadly abilities the creatures could do. Seeing the fear rise again in the two animals, Richard attempted to put his words into better context when a loud scream cut him off.

James, who had ducked out of sight and approached the humans discreetly the moment he spotted them, emerged from a nearby rack of dresses and swung a metal bar he found earlier during his barricade building at Richard. Before he could make the hit, Daisy stepped in front of her in-law and managed to grab the bar before Richard (from the scare of the attack) flung a fist and punched the skunk in the nose before sending him back to his friends.

"James? What were you doing?", Velvet exclaimed in shock as she stopped the skunk from hitting the ground. Before James could react, the metal bar he once held was flung back towards him, nearly hitting Vianna in the head. Daisy, who had thrown the bar with intent to hit the skunk, raised her fists and declared, "If you want a fight, then I`m eager to give it to you!", reigniting all the aggression in the three animals (especially Vianna). "Daisy!? Why did you do that for?", Liz exclaimed, shocked that her ally defused any possible way for things to end peacefully between the animals. At that point, Daisy realized her mistake as the animals attacked, forcing her, Richard and Liz into another fight.

 **Fight 3-4:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Vianna**

 **-Velvet**

 **-James**

 **(side A)**

 **-Richard**

 **-Daisy**

 **-Liz**

 **(side B)**

After the fight:

 _ **If Side A (Vianna, Velvet and James) won the round:**_

The moment Richard hit the ground, he felt a shoe get pressed against his neck and panicked. "Wait, don`t hurt me!", he managed to exclaim as he looked up at a still enraged Vianna. Behind her, Velvet pinned Daisy against a nearby shelf while James pinned Liz to the floor as if he were a cop arresting a suspect.

"Who are you? Where did you come from? What do you want?", Vianna interrogated. "I`m Richard Bucket and I didn`t do anything besides look for something to defend myself against those invading drones", Richard answered desperately, prompting a curious look from the doe. Vianna then asked, "So you know about the drones? The ones that are attacking everywhere and trying to freeze everyone they come across?", "They might be working with them. Of course! It makes sense. An alien invasion is taking place and these guys are the heads of it!", James suddenly exclaimed. "What!? We`re not working with those things! They attacked us and our world before yours! If what you say is true, then I`m the Queen of England", Liz retorted, addressing the most outrageous thing she heard in her life. Vianna and Velvet glanced at Liz in confusion for a moment while Daisy and Richard didn`t seem to know what to do or say next.

Before anyone could say anything, Woola suddenly groaned and sat up rubbing her head. "Woola!", "Thank goodness you`re okay!", Vianna and Velvet exclaimed in relief. "What happened? I was looking for Devan when…oh my!", Woola exclaimed rubbing her head before seeing Richard less than five feet from her. As she stood up in alarm, Vianna quickly exclaimed, "Don`t worry, we got them under control".

Quickly, Woola swallowed up her fears and gathered up enough strength to ask the humans, "Where`s my son? If you did anything to hurt him…", "Mom! Aunt Vee-anna! Don`t hurt my friends!", a voice suddenly called out from the employee's room. To the anthro animals surprise, Devan emerged from the room looking alarmed at the scenario the humans were in.

Quickly, Woola rushed to her son and hugged him tightly in relief with while Velvet asked Daisy, "What does he mean by "your friend"?", in a confused tone. Before Daisy could answer, Devan broke off the hug with his mom and exclaimed, "I made some new friends Aunt Velvet. They told me that their world was attacked and they ended up here after an explosion. You don`t have to hold them down or harm them. They`re friendly".

Deciding to take Devan`s word Velvet, James and Vianna let go of the humans with James helping Liz up and Vianna giving Richard a quick apology for holding him hostage, with Richard awkwardly accepting the apology. After a few silent moments of more awkwardness, Woola asked her son, "Can you tell us what`s going on here? How do you know these creatures?", while still holding him close and gazing at the unknown species in distrust.

 _ **If Side B (Richard, Daisy and Liz) won the round:**_

Vianna, Velvet and James hit the ground hurt with the unknown creatures standing over them. "Please…don`t eat my face or dissolve me in acid!", James said holding up his hands amid a panicked stutter while Vianna and Velvet clenched their teeth from the pain they felt.

Vianna expected at that moment for her life to end and nearly closed her eyes, hoping the way the monsters would end her would be painless. However, after a few moments of strange silence she got surprised when Daisy held out a hand to her. "Mind if we start over? With the talk I mean?" Before Vianna could react, Velvet absentmindedly grabbed the hand and was pulled back up to her feet awkwardly.

At that moment, Woola let out a groan and slowly sat up. "Vianna? James?...", she nervously asked upon seeing her friends on the ground with her and the strange creatures close by. Suddenly, a voice was heard from the back of the employee's room. "Richard? Daisy? What`s going on out there? Are you hurt?", "No Devan. Everyone lost their sanity for a moment. Some of these shoppers that got in had a fight with us", Richard replied as Woola`s eyes widened, identifying the voice right away. "Devan!? Is that you?"

The sound of footsteps approached the door followed by the young sheep. "Mom! Aunt Vee-Anna! Aunt Velvet! You`re all okay!", he exclaimed in disbelief before rushing to his mother for a joyful hug. "What? Nothing for me?", James asked as Vianna managed to overcome her pain and stood up, not taking her eyes off the creatures.

After waiting a few moments for Woola and Devan to finish their reunion, the doe asked, "Devan, who are these things?", "They`re my new friends! I`m helping them after their world was attacked and they were sent here", Devan exclaimed as his mom and James finally got up. The answer only prompted more confusion to the animals. "Devan, can you tell us exactly what`s going on here? How do you know them?", Woola managed to ask as she held her son close and gazed at the strangers with some mild distrust.

 **The next part happens regardless of what conclusion you got:**

Looking at the three humans for a moment, Devan started to tell his mother and the other anthro animals everything that happened after taking a deep breath. ( _Story cuts to a flashback of earlier events)_

 _ **Devans narration**_ _: "After I ended up in the store, I tried to get out since I knew you and Aunt Velvet were in trouble but couldn`t get past the entrance. That was when the three creatures here who are called humans noticed I was in the store and walked up to me. At first I was scared and thought they would hurt me, but instead they introduced themselves as Richard, Liz and Daisy and started asking me odd questions like who I was and what world we were in."_

 _ **Scene shown:**_ _A bit of the flashback from Deer Me Part-4`s ending is shown with Richard, Daisy and Liz approaching the little sheep looking confused while Devan leans away from them in fear. It then shows the trio asking him questions after giving an awkward introduction. Devan stares at them in confusion from the basic questions they are asking but soon becomes more open and excitedly tells them everything he knows and learned from school._

 _ **Devans narration:**_ _"After I told them everything they needed to know, these humans told me where they came from and about an attack similar to this one that destroyed their world. They said that the drones who are out there are similar to the ones they encountered."_

 _ **Scene shown:**_ _Richard, Liz and Daisy continue talking to Devan as he becomes the one to ask the questions. As the three humans tell him about the events that lead them to the store, the young sheep shows a lot of emotions ranging from excitement to shock. Depending on who the player picked to fire the drones arm at the chasing drones during the last mini game in chapter 1, either Liz or Daisy are shown mimicking the blasting they did in a bit of a goofy fashion._

 _ **(Scene flashes back to the present)**_ "Wait a minute Devan. An attack that destroyed their world?", Velvet asked sounding alarmed as she glanced at the humans again. "Please tell me you guys were joking or something", James could only say. Shaking his head no, Richard replied, "The major attack that happened mirrors what took place in our world before it got destroyed. First the drone army appeared and captured everyone by freezing them, then they set this strange, new weapon that resembles a bomb on any surface they could find…",

"And then the thing goes off and apparently erases a world from existence. Oh, and teleports any survivors elsewhere, though not together judging as how more than half our party didn`t follow us", Liz concluded as a sense of dread crossed her mind. Were the events in the animal world truly going to repeat what happened back home?

Vianna, realizing the same thing, pulled out her phone and attempted to contact Thomas and Blaire while Devan continued to tell his mom, James and Velvet what happened after he was locked in the store with his new companions. As Vianna walked around a bit trying to get some wi-fi, she overheard the little lamb mention that he agreed to help the humans find weapons in the store to fend off any drones that would attack them once they let the place.

At the point when Devan mentioned he and his new friends had entered the back of the store to find anything useful to craft together, a signal was finally discovered and Vianna wasted no time contacting Thomas. In less than two seconds her former roommate answered. "Vianna!", "Thomas! Glad to hear you`re still around", "Likewise. Me and Blaire are less than a mile away, I think. It`s been a while since we drove on an actual road and…LOOK OUT FOR THAT TREE!", Thomas exclaimed out of nowhere, giving Vianna a jump scare.

Once she settled down, Vianna tried speaking to Thomas again. "Thomas, you okay?", "Yeah. Fine. Had another close call. You won`t believe how many of those robot drones were firing at us on the way over. Listen, me and Blaire are planning to go in and out of that mall as fast as we can, so can you let me know which entrance we should pick you up at?", "You Could Be Prettier. It`s me, James, Velvet, Woola, Devan and…Oh, and does the car have any room or three extra guests. We found some…foreign survivors", Vianna asked before glancing over at the humans for a second while hoping Thomas wouldn`t bring up Cory. She had no idea how to gently break the news in case Blaire was listening in.

"I think we`ll be able to make room if we`re lucky. Just meet us outside and be careful", Thomas instructed. "Wait, I almost forgot to ask: Did you see anything out of place during the attack? Like a news report or something?", Vianna suddenly said. "Yes, I actually did. There was this broadcast at the park where the two of us and Velvet hung out before and I saw this drone and weird device next to it…", Thomas began. A sudden wi-fi drop cut the call, though Vianna`s fears ended up growing.

The doe quickly returned to the group as Woola asked her son a question. "So what you`re saying is you didn`t hear us when you were in the employee's room?", "We heard some noises and laid low in case it was a drone. My friends told me to stay back and hide while they went out to investigate", Devan answered before spotting Vianna and noticing how panicked she looked.

"Aunt Vee, what`s wrong?", he asked, drawing everyone's attention to the doe`s worry. "We need to get outside as soon as Thomas and Blaire get here. Don`t worry…what`s your names again?", Vianna asked the humans. After receiving the names Richard, Elizabeth and Daisy from them along with James and Velvet sharing their names to the humans (with the doe making a mental note), Vianna continued, "You three will get a ride out of here as well. I know this is sorta jumping to conclusions, but I think this world is definitely facing the same risk as yours did. Thomas said he saw the drones with something odd at a local park not too far away".

Before anyone could fully process what Vianna had said, they all heard a strange grinding noise and looked at the entrance. It looked like the drones were finally starting to make progress through the barrier as it quickly dented and threatened to give way at any moment.

"Not good", Daisy exclaimed walking slowly backwards while Woola picked up her son. "Everybody to the parking lot!", Velvet shouted as the first of many drones managed to burst in and open fire.


	21. Deer Me- Part 7

The second Velvet yelled for the group to move, everyone started to sprint for the back exit as quickly as they could with Vianna bringing up the rear. The doe immediately glanced behind her as she ran and saw the drones that already got in had frozen the unconscious members of the Beauty Brigade. Behind them, the barrier was finally knocked down with a loud clang, bringing more of the mechanical fiends inside the store.

When everyone got to the back exit, they brushed passed what looked like a poorly made barricade mainly made up of a mannequin and a pile of clothing. "Where did that come from? It wasn`t here when we came in", Liz exclaimed, making James look a little embarrassed about the random and pointless mess he made to keep the drones out. Before he could come up with an excuse, a blast nearly hit him from his left, prompting the skunk and everyone else to realize that the patrolling drones outside in the parking lot had spotted them as well and were now in pursuit to freeze and capture them to.

"No. We`re doomed!", Velvet bemoaned seeing all the drones in the lot start to box them in while the ones inside You Could Be Prettier came outside and also kept firing and chasing. Devan nearly let out a cry of terror from hearing this while Liz and Richard tried to use their newly felt fears to speed up a bit. Suddenly, Vianna spotted a minivan approaching from the road and shouted, "Thomas and Blaire! Look everyone! We have a chance to escape!" As more shots were fired at the group, a renewed sense of confidence was formed as they ran for the minivan.

The minivan drove into the lot and rammed two drones aside, making it swerve a bit away from the group, though it gave them a wider path from their attackers. "Oh-no! Please be okay Blaire! Please!", James begged as he followed the minivan. "Who`s Blaire exactly? I heard your friend mention her name in the store", Daisy couldn`t help but shout over the action. "She`s my down to earth wife. Rabbit. Really tough but sweet", James replied. "And Thomas? You mentioned a Thomas back there but never told us who he was", Liz asked nearly jumping to avoid a drone that got to close and swung its arm at her. "Former deer roommate of me and Vianna`s", Velvet answered as casually as she could before dodging a blast. "And Aunt Vee`s love interest", Devan added, making a look of embarrassment appear on Vianna`s face for a moment. "I`m not dating him. I already have a boyfriend…Don`t think I`m lying", Vianna defensively said before shouting at Richard and Daisy as they couldn`t help but give her a slight teasing grin. As the doe kept running, she also secretly hoped she wasn`t blushing.

Inside the minivan, Blaire managed to get her ride under control and slowed down. She then shouted at Thomas to open the side door behind her, saying it would be too risky to completely stop even for five seconds and that everyone would have to jump in. After she said this, two blasts immediately hit the passenger door and partially encased it in ice. Quickly, Thomas jumped out of his seat and scrambled to open the side door for a moment.

When the side door of the car suddenly came open in front of her with Thomas standing in full view and gesturing for everyone to move, Vianna looked at him and felt happy to see his face again despite the risky situation she was in. Those gentle brown eyes, those manly antlers…

"Over here!", Daisy suddenly shouted, making Thomas nearly stumble back in shock upon seeing a human for the first time while Vianna snapped out of her fantasy, annoyed but thankful that Daisy retuned her mind where it belonged in the present.

James managed to get inside the car first followed by Velvet and Liz. "Hey honey bunny", James awkwardly said as he took a seat next to his wife. The skunk had somehow found himself fearing that he would get an earful from Blaire for taking all her cards, but instead Blaire was glancing back at Liz in disbelief and fear as well as Richard when he was the next to get in and move towards the back with Thomas leaning as far away as he could. "James, who are these…things?", Blaire exclaimed.

"Oh, some new friends that Devan made", Velvet responded, making Thomas and Blaire look more confused. Seeing this, the horse promised she`d tell them more once they were out of danger.

As Blaire kept driving at a reasonable pace to avoid being made a completely easy target by the many firing drones, only Woola, Devan, Daisy and Vianna were left outside. Quickly, Vianna jumped into the minivan next and turned around to reach out to Devan and Woola, with Devan also reaching out and trying to grab the arm.

"You`re almost there!", Vianna shouted seeing how close her friend and honorary nephew were. Out of nowhere, a stray electric blast hit Woola the second Vianna grabbed Devan by the arm, knocking the adult sheep down on the ground while her son dangled in the air for a moment before being pulled into the minivan. Daisy stopped chasing the car and spun around to help Woola but at that point, an ice drone froze the sheep with its own blast and sent her hovering up in the air where she promptly vanished.

"No! MOM!", Devan hollered, witnessing the whole thing. As Vianna protectively hugged him, she shouted for Daisy to come back, prompting the last human to make a mad dash to the minivan. A moment after she leaped in and stumbled for the back, Vianna slammed the door shut and the car sped towards the exit.

"Mom! We can`t leave her!", Devan wailed as Vianna and Velvet did their best to comfort him while looking equally stunned by what happened to their friend. From the backseat where Richard, Liz and an out of breath Daisy sat, they watched the crying little lamb with pity and noticed Thomas, James and Blaire look like they were at a loss at words.

Another drone suddenly managed to hit the windshield, coating it with ice and blocking the view. "Oh crap!", Blaire exclaimed before rolling down the window and sticking her head out to see where she was going. The minivan managed to make it past all the other attacks un-hit and left the mall behind in its now partially destroyed and ominously abandoned state.

 _ **Five minutes later at an abandoned buildings parking lot:**_

When Blaire saw the place and noted that it had no immediate danger nearby, she quickly pulled in and stopped, counting her blessings that for the time being that almost everyone was safe. Glancing behind her while thinking of what happened back at the lot, she saw that none of the drones that had chased her vehicle from the mall were still in pursuit and that no new ones were around the area as well.

Blaire then glanced at everyone else in the minivan her noted how they were doing. Sitting in the seat behind her husband, Velvet was trying to comfort Devan as he lay curled up in a ball on her lap, crying his eyes out over his mother being gone. Thomas, who was sitting on the floor next to Vianna`s seat, had his focus divided between Devan and the "human" creatures that sat in the back, his expressions shifting from pity to wariness quickly. Vianna also talked to Devan and promised him that she`d do whatever she could to get his mom back with a grim look of revenge in her eyes, apparently feeling vengeful about the whole situation that happened. Richard, Liz and Daisy talked nervously amongst themselves as they kept giving Thomas and the rabbit a slight glance of distrust now and again, though what they were saying was something Blaire didn`t know.

When she opened the car door, James asked what she was doing stepping out. "I need to clear the windshield. Feels like I`m at risk keeping my head out in the open just to see where I`m driving", Blaire responded. As she approached the trunk to get the ice scraper, Thomas decided to address the elephant in the room (or minivan to be more direct) about the aliens he was seeing.

"Vianna, who are these things?", he asked, "They`re some people that Devan met in You Could Be Prettier. From what I learned, they came from a world that got attacked by the same attack force that`s out there in this world", Vianna explained as the humans stopped talking and listened. At that point, they joined the conversation.

"Hello, I`m Richard Bucket. This is my neighbor Liz and my in-law Daisy", Richard introduced while he and his companions extended a hand, feeling this was the best time to try and ease any distrust felt between anyone. Thomas awkwardly shook the hands with Velvet and James joining in as Devan stopped crying and just watched everything going around in silence and a bit of awe.

Blaire opened the partially dented trunk door and scavenged for the ice chipper amid some clutter that she and James had placed inside a long time ago. "Are there any more of you running around out here or something?", she couldn`t help but ask looking up and noting the handshakes. "Back in our world there was my brother Emmet, my friend Hyacinth and Daisy`s husband and sister along with her father. We were all mostly together when the attack took place back home. Our home I mean", Liz answered.

"Sounds like a bunch of nice and interesting folks", Velvet couldn`t help but comment. "Yes, the perfect word to describe them", Liz awkwardly stated as she pictured having tea with Hyacinth and spilling it again. After all the scares she had today, she found herself yearning for one she was used to and familiar with. Worst thing in that scenario involved her wiping up the spill. "I also miss my husband Onslow. Oh how lonely he must be without his wife by his side wherever he is. At least you two still have each other", Daisy couldn`t help but say before noticing Thomas and Vianna.

Right away, the two deer looked at each other awkwardly before Vianna reminded Daisy that she already mentioned she had a boyfriend, making Thomas look a bit unsure how to respond while James looked saddened again. Before he could stop himself, he ended up breaking the bad news to his wife. "Blaire, Cory was…frozen and taken by those things as well earlier", he said as Blaire found the ice scrapper and approached the front window. Blaire stopped to comprehend what she heard before she asked James in a helpless tone if Cory said anything important about them before he went away. James brought up the part where he saved him and Vianna, making Blaire reflect this privately. She then shook her head in frustration and aggressively whacked the ice away, causing one or two small cracks in the window. Her voice muttered a low "No", once or twice as she tried to delve into the realms of mental denial. James could only watch her actions helplessly while Thomas looked disturbed by the news.

When Blaire quickly cleared the ice off the car's windshield, she tossed the ice scraper aside and returned inside looking red eyed from a bit of crying. James leaned over and hugged her, muttering some words of comfort.

"What do we do now? It feels like everywhere we go there are drones that will try to freeze us", Velvet asked after a few moments passed, making Vianna leave her state of sadness and suddenly recall her thoughts from earlier. "Actually, I have a plan that might save everyone and the world. I know it`s not a guarantee but I do think it`s worth trying out", she said, gathering everyone's attention. "And what plan is that? Not to be pessimistic or anything, but I`m worried our ignorance as to the whole reason behind these attacks along with how the enemies work is the biggest flaw against us", Liz nervously said looking out her side window for anyone dangerous approaching.

"Thomas, you said you saw something on the news during my call for a ride out of the mall, right?", Vianna asked. "Right. I saw a bunch of regular drones and this really odd one at the local park. The odd one was doing commands as it was standing next to something. For some reason, I seem to remember the details of the weird device", "Weird device? How exactly did it look like?", Richard cut in; the image of the bomb in front of his house flashed through his and Liz`s minds. "It looked…strange. Even more strange than James` artwork or any other idea he has in general", Thomas explained. James looked ready to retort but instead kept silent, feeling a quarrel wouldn`t be a good idea at a time like this.

"You`ll need to be a bit more specific than that. Was it red, blue, big, small, ect. ect. ect?", Velvet asked. Straining to think for a moment, Thomas replied, "It was circular and apparently hovering in the air…it was also red and had a bolt or two of electricity spark out of it". Right away, the three humans looked at one another and exclaimed, "Electric wave!", "What? Is that some kind of music from your world?", Thomas asked baffled. "No, that description matches the same weapon I saw", Liz nervously stated. "And when our world came to an end it was swallowed up by this electric wave. It was as if everything that hit was erased or something, besides us", Daisy explained.

"Aunt Velvet, are we going to be erased from existence?", Devan asked Velvet nervously while James hugged his seat, the thought of something like a wave of electricity coming towards him terrifying him. "No we won`t. That`s just crazy talk", Velvet assured the sheep before leaning back to whisper to Richard, "You`re sure that`s what happened when you got hit? Erased from existence?", "I don`t know but I certainly don`t want to go through that again", Richard replied. "You know I can still hear you", Devan commented.

Nervous chatter began to start amongst everyone but Vianna let out a loud whistle and reclaimed everyone`s attention. "I know this isn`t a 100% guarantee, but I still believe we can do something to save Cory, Woola and everyone else who got captured along with ourselves. What if we reached the bomb and deactivated it? If it has the power to erase worlds, maybe it can bring anyone frozen back from wherever they are now, along with our visitor's world back", "I don`t know if it`ll work that way. Like Liz said, we have no idea how these enemies operate, or how to deactivate a bomb for that matter", Thomas said.

"Personally I say we go ahead and try the doe`s idea. It`s better than sitting around waiting to get taken by the drones or hit by that wave again", Richard spoke out. "Aunt Vee is right. If it will bring my mom back, then we should find the bomb and beat up any drones that try to stop us", Devan exclaimed. One by one, everyone quickly agreed that the plan was better than anything else at the moment. Even Liz and Thomas, the most skeptical of the idea, came onboard.

Turning on the car's engine, Blaire gripped the wheel and said, "Alright, if my knowledge of the area is accurate, then the park is about two miles away from this point", "Good. Drive us over there. If any drones are hanging around the park, we`ll lure them away or kick their metallic butts. Anything to get close to that bomb", Vianna said as Blaire drove onto the road. "Let's just hope we beat the countdown", Richard stated before he and everyone braced themselves for the wild ride up ahead.

 **Mini-game #6: The Ultimate Race to the Park**

 _ **Objective: As Blaire, the players must get the Keene`s minivan to the park in under three minutes while on a course that is full of dangerous obstacles.**_

 _ **Controls:**_

 _ **-L Stick: steer left and right**_

 _ **-R2 button: Accelerate minivan**_

 _ **-X button: Break**_

 _ **Advice:**_

 _ **-Sometimes it might be a good idea to slow down at a sharp curve as to avoid crashing and losing critical time.**_

 _ **-Hitting something won`t give the car damage (as there`s no health meter aspect in this mini game). However, like the other piece of advice this doesn`t mean you should get careless on the road.**_

After the mini game is completed/the car reaches the park:

As the minivan went off road and onto the grassy fields, everyone was relived to notice that not a single drone was in sight, though an aftermath depicting the fight between the cops and drones (a lot of abandoned cop cars coated in ice with some having their sirens still on) remained not too far off, leaving an eerie feeling in the air.

"Alright, now where exactly in the park is that bomb?", Vianna asked Thomas. "Near that gazebo with the graffiti on the roof. You know, the one where you once scared away that biker gang", Thomas replied, making the humans look at Vianna in bafflement. "Really? A whole biker gang?", Daisy exclaimed as the minivan went over a bump, sending everyone off their seats for a second. "That`s nothing. Vianna really knows how to stick it to anyone if she sets her mind to it", Velvet stated, making Vianna glare at her as if to say that wasn`t true and she wasn`t that violent. "Hey, that was a compliment, not an insult", Velvet responded feeling a bit nervous about the look she was getting.

Spotting the gazebo first, James leaned forward and exclaimed, "There it is…and there`s the bomb!", "Be careful when you touch it! It`s very hot on the surface", Richard called out to everyone as he recalled what happened when he poked the first orb bomb be encountered with the stick.

Out of nowhere the large copper drone that Thomas saw on the news appeared from behind the gazebo, making Blaire swerve out of the way. The minivan came to a stop and the copper drone, caught off guard by the sudden appearance of the vehicle as it was giving a broadcast update to someone in another dimension, turned to examine and probably attack it. Before it could fully do anything though, all the doors (sans the still frozen passenger door) got kicked open and everyone charged at the drone screaming.

The copper drone, a.k.a. the Beta Destroyer, was immediately pounced on by Blaire and Daisy as they clung to it and aggressively whacked it, making it hover away backwards from everyone else. As the rest of the group kept chasing the drone while Blaire ripped out some vital circuitry from the back, Thomas and Velvet stopped in front of the bomb to examine it. It didn`t take long for them to notice the timer. "Oh crap!", Thomas panicked when he saw the countdown was at 5 seconds and counting.

As he and Velvet shouted and tried warn everyone, the now stuttering from damage Beta Destroyer vanished in midair with Blaire and Daisy still on it. Everyone else stopped running and looked at the last place where the drone was in confusion (with a mix of horror in James, Richard and Liz`s case) a split second before the bomb went off.

Once again, Richard and Liz found themselves swallowed up alongside their remaining animal companions while everything else in the world (except the remaining drones, who teleported away) was engulfed by the electric wave and gone just like that.


	22. Deer Me- Final

Inside the new location of the Crabshack, Onslow stood at the bar and casually started pouring himself another beer. Once the frothy mug was full, he took a sip and approached the two men who attacked him and Emmet earlier. Randy and Crabman, who were both in a chair and tied by cables that Emmet found in the back of the bar earlier, watched nervously as Onslow stood in front of them and gave off a menacing tone. Next to them, Emmet stood guard while Hyacinth and Rose watched from across the room at one of the tables. "I`m curious as to where this will go", Hyacinth told her sister while Rose seemed to be eager to see where things would go (hopefully ending with a date from one of the new guys).

"Alright, here`s what we`re going to do: You`re going to answer all me questions I`m going to ask and then we`ll untie you so you blokes can be on your merry way", Onslow stated, making Randy perk up excitedly. "That`s it? This should be easy. I betcha I know all the answers!", "Don`t tell them anything Randy. These guys might get rid of us permanently once we have no use to them", Crabman immediately ordered. "Oh, so in that case I won`t tell them anything Crabman", Randy replied, easily persuaded.

"Let`s make one thing clear: We are not the enemies here. You are. Attacking us in the hallway like that. It was lucky nobody was seriously hurt afterwards", Emmet said with disdain, though the two tied up men didn`t look like they were listening to him.

Onslow took one final sip of beer before setting it on a nearby table and got started. "Right, now answer me first question: Who are you exactly? I already picked up that you`re Randy and Crabman, so there`s a start. Were you in the building before it came here or did you somehow end up arriving just like we did?", he asked. Randy and Crabman stayed silent and refused to make eye contact with Onslow, much to the interrogators annoyance.

After repeating the question a few more times in a harsher tone with no answers given, Onslow and Emmet walked off to the side and talked among themselves while Rose kept an eye on the prisoners. "What do we do to make them talk? I`m not keen on carrying out any more violence for the time being", Emmet said. "This may not be the best solution, but we need to take desperate measures to get them to open up. I have this feeling they know something critical as to what happened back home. Now think, what would make them desperate enough to tell us what we want to know without getting physical?", Onslow asked.

Right away, Emmet`s eyes lit up from an idea he had. "You got something?", "Yes…but it almost feels too cruel to unleash on these souls despite their hostility. I fear it`ll get us charged for war crimes if we ever get back home and someone hears of it", "Emmet, just tell me your idea. Surely you`re joking", Onslow stated. Looking up slowly, Emmet glanced at Hyacinth as she whispered something to Rose about how tacky the décor was in the bar. "We release the Bucket woman on them", he ominously stated, making Onslow get taken aback.

After a minute of nervous debate between the two men as to whether they should go through with the plan or not, Emmet and Onslow approached Randy and Crabman and warned them that it was their last chance to fess up what they knew before things really became drastic. After Crabman continued to keep silent while Randy went, "La la la, I can`t hear you", the interrogators found themselves approaching Hyacinth while trying not to look insecure. "Ah, Emmet. How`s the interrogation is going? Did those men tell us anything useful as to our predicament?", Hyacinth asked with interest, as her attention had drifted away to observe the drab décor.

"Well Hyacinth, the thing is that these men are too spooked and stressed out to give us a direct answer to anything, so keeping them tied up for a while may be a good precaution. I was thinking that perhaps your natural and beautiful singing talents would get them to calm down and open up to us. Surely the best singer in Britain could do it", Emmet said struggling to keep his face from showing disdain with every fiber of his bean. The thought of Hyacinths singing being a good thing was so haunting it was worth a mental breakdown.

Standing up excitedly, Hyacinth straightened her hat and boasted, "Finally! A chance to show my wonderful talent to a new face. They`ll be in for the experience of a lifetime!", before inhaling to practice a few notes. Onslow stopped her quickly to say something. "Nice. While you`re busy entertaining our new arrivals me, Emmet and Rose will check out the mystery table for anything we might`ve missed from our earlier examination. Come along Rose", he said gesturing for his in-law to follow him and Emmet into the hallway.

Rose glanced behind in confusion as Hyacinth approached the two bound men (who overheard some words said and looked equally confused). "What are you boys doing?", she asked before being escorted into the table room, where Emmet slammed the door shut to muffle as much sound as he could. "Simple. Since those men don`t want to talk to us willingly, we felt that your sister might be more persuasive after a few words with them", Emmet answered as he and Onslow covered his ears.

Out of nowhere, loud and shrill lyrics to "Sixteen Going On Seventeen" were heard followed by cries of agony. Rose stumbled from the door wincing and covered up her ears tightly as well. After a few moments, she shouted to Onslow, "How long is she going to keep this up?", "I say a few more moments. Those intruders will tell us anything we want to know from them by the time she gets to the next verse", Onslow replied, trying not to let the singing and screaming get to him.

In the Crabshack room, Crabman gritted his teeth and Randy howled in pain as Hyacinth continued to "sing" to the men in the most horrible, screechy voice that ever existed while being completely oblivious to the horror she was exposing them to. "Ah! You know, I experienced training on how to deal with torture when I was an agent, but there was nothing in the books about dealing with this!", Crabman managed to holler to Randy. "I can`t take it anymore! Hey! Whoever you guys are, we`ll tell you everything! Even the part about how I got my face stuck to the TV!", Randy shouted before howling in pain to a high note Hyacinth reached.

Less than ten seconds later, the rest of Hyacinths group returned to the bar. A quick shout from Rose made her sister stop singing. "Yes Rose? What is it?", Hyacinth asked approaching her while Randy and Crabman did their best to not let their headaches and earaches bother them. "Oh…um, the thing is…", Emmet began, trying to think of a logical excuse. "We heard somethin` outside while examining the strange table. You and Rose can check it out while me and Emmet try to speak to the prisoners again", Onslow quickly said.

As Rose took Hyacinth by the arm and lead her out (with Emmet calling to the women to take their time investigating), Onslow pulled up a chair and sat in front of Randy and Crabman. "Okay, let`s try this again: Who are you two and how did you get in the closet?", "Oh, we were fighting these drones that were attacking our hometown in Camden. I actually don`t know what state it`s in but I do know it`s in the Southern part. Anyway, I kicked a million of those things in the ass and was coming out on top like an action hero!", Randy boasted as made up fantasies flew by his head.

Crabman looked at Randy as if he were insane along with Emmet and Onslow. "What, I`m telling the truth! I was the real hero back there!", Randy insisted when he noticed everyone's reactions. "Ooh Hyacinth, I think one of our stressed out prisoners wants to listen to a wonderful and louder encore of your singing!", Emmet teasingly called as he started taking a few steps towards the hallway.

"No!", Crabman and Randy yelled at the same time before Emmet turned around and walked back to where he previously stood. "Come on now lad. Tell us the truth", Onslow said being sincerer. "Okay, I had my head stuck in a soda machine while Crabman did all the robot kicking. And the worst part about it before the world ending was that I didn`t even get a soda out of it", Randy exclaimed, apparently bummed out.

Crabman let out a sigh and decided to speak up. "I`ll do the explaining Randy. You see, there were these robots that attacked us. Froze everyone they could find till this electric blast sent us away", he said, trying to make the info he gave as vague as possible. Emmet and Onslow looked at each other in shock. "So it happened to them too", Emmet managed to say. "Wait, what do you mean by "them too"", Crabman asked, his expression totally perplexed. "Our world was attacked in a similar fashion. Drones hovering around and freezing anybody they could get close enough to, an electric blast that ended all life in the area as we know it except for us and this building…", Onslow began before cutting himself off.

"But what about all that stuff you said in the hallway? You know, about that strangling and a devil", Randy asked. "That was towards Hyacinth. Not some sinister plot. After being in this place for what feels like hours with her, you`d understand", Emmet said, making Randy`s eyes widen at this fact.

"Oh. I guess we were wrong about that cult theory", he told Crabman. "Hey, I was stressed out from what I experienced before and after that blast engulfed us. My thoughts weren`t as rational as they usually are. Though I`ll admit that I really jumped to conclusions on that one…wait. You said you were here for hours?", Crabman asked Emmet when he recalled his recent words.

"Yes, why is that important?", "We were hit by that blast and in this place in the span of minutes. If me and Randy went through the same explosion you did, we all would`ve met more recently. That means that a world ending explosion we experienced may not have been the same one", Crabman said, stunning everyone (including himself) with this fact.

 _ **Elsewhere:**_

Daisy and Blaire clung onto the thrashing Beta Destroyer as it flung through the unknowns of space and time. For Blaire, she still had a hard time processing what was going on while evading the swinging arms that attempted to knock her and her new companion off it. One minute she and her friends were charging at this thing to help clear the area of dangerous drones and stop the bomb from going off and the next she was no longer in her world with everyone but one of the humans gone. As the drone nearly hit the back of her head, Blaire ducked and hoped that James and everyone else were fine wherever they were.

A loud wooshing sound was suddenly heard and a moment later both the human and the rabbit saw what looked like a sandy land below them. "Hey, what`s that building?", Daisy managed to shout to Blaire as she pointed at it. Blaire shifted her position to see what Daisy was referring to and looked surprised to see there actually was something below her in the vast empty world below. That surprise turned to fear when she noticed the drone she was riding began to make a nosedive for the place. Both females screamed and braced themselves for impact.

A bit of a distance from the building, Hyacinth became impatient as Rose lead her around in circles, insisting that the women find the source of the odd noise before going back inside. "Rose, I think that you and the men must have misheard while you were in the building. There`s nothing out here", Hyacinth insisted as Rose stopped to look out in an endless direction. "But I`m sure we heard something. Perhaps we can search five more minutes before heading back in", Rose stated, wanting to see the mystery men again but also knowing the sight of Hyacinth too soon would potentially scare them off. "Fine. But do hurry. My clothing is starting to get dirty. Oh, if Sheridan saw how messy his mum got he`d break out into hives", Hyacinth declared before Rose started to walk a bit closer to the building. Out of nowhere, the women heard a distant scream and looked up to see something falling towards the building.

"What is that!?", Rose exclaimed staring dumbstruck before Hyacinth let out a yelp and dragged her sister out of the way, with the fear of getting hit clouding her mind.

Inside the building, Onslow stood up and grabbed a knife from the counter once all the talk between the four men had finished. "Seems this was all a big misunderstanding. Nobody here really is the enemy", he said before cutting the binds off Randy. "Okay, so we established that everyone here experienced the same attack and that means the events could be connected. What now?", Crabman asked before he was also freed. Everyone tried to think of a way to answer that question when a loud crash rocked the building, making everyone fall to the floor.

"I say we investigate that", Onslow answered as he got up first and headed into the hallway. To his surprise, there was a hole in the wall above the table room with a pile of debris blocking the way in. Another hole in the wall opposite of the room showed the desert outside, indicating that something had indeed went through the place. Behind him Emmet, Randy and Crabman looked equally surprised by the damage they saw. Before they could react, a loud crash was heard, followed by a pair of shrill cries.

"That sounded like the girls!", Emmet exclaimed. "You go out and check what`s happening. I`ll try to see if anything else got damaged", Onslow ordered. Nodding, the three men sprinted for the exit while Onslow stayed back to try and move the debris blocking the door.

Daisy found herself letting out a slight groan of pain as she slowly sat up and felt the sand fall off her hair. Not too far away from her, Blaire also got up panting in horror over what she experienced. The moment the rabbit spotted the big drone in the sand and apparently destroyed (at least judging by the section that wasn't lodged deep in the sand) she angrily gave it a kick and stumbled back from the pain. "Blaire. Calm down. It`s dead…I think", Daisy exclaimed approaching the rabbit and catching her before she fell again.

"Probably, but thanks to this thing we are stranded in the middle of nowhere and could have died when we went through that building. Worst of all though is that we unintentionally left everyone behind. James is gone. Velvet is gone. Richard and Liz got left behind in my own world. What a mess", Blaire exclaimed trying to keep her emotions in check. Quickly, the rabbit recovered her balance and shook off the pain. Before she or Daisy could do anything else, the females heard someone call out the human's name followed by a shocked cry.

Turning to face the source of the noise, the duo got surprised to see Hyacinth and Rose (who had dived out of the way when the drone crashed) approach them in different ways. "Hyacinth!? Rose!? Is that really you?", Daisy exclaimed walking over quickly to them while Blaire lingered back, caught off guard seeing more of these new human species. She hoped there would be more anthro animals around, but something told her this wasn`t the case for her.

When the three sisters met they shared a compassionate hug before Rose looked up to study Blaire. "Oh Daisy, I`m so happy you`re here. I was so worried about you.", "Thank you Hyacinth. Glad you`re here to…where is here anyway?", "Nobody has exactly figured that out yet, though we are all safe here from those invaders for the time being. A lot of odd things happened after we were engulfed in the explosion. These two strange men showed up out of nowhere from one of the rooms inside and before that this neon sign appeared and disappeared out of nowhere", Hyacinth answered.

During the whole sister talk, Rose kept nervously tugging Hyacinth by the arm while not taking her eyes off Blaire, fearful of the anthro rabbit standing in front of her. By the time she finally got her attention Crabman, Randy and Emmet had ran up to them outside. "What happened? We heard some chaos out here!", Crabman asked, catching Daisy off guard the most by his first sudden appearance to her. Before she could ask who he and the other strange man were, Emmet cut in. "Wait a minute, is that you Daisy?", he exclaimed in shock while replaying the events where he last saw her. Before Daisy could say a word to that, Randy suddenly pointed at Blaire and exclaimed excitedly, "Cool! The Easter Bunny came here!", drawing everyone's full attention to the anthro rabbit.

Blaire found herself nervously taking a few more steps back as the nearby Beta Destroyer unknowingly began to activate an emergency protocol from within it in secret. While Rose and Hyacinth stayed back, the men all took a hostile step forward to what they thought was a potential foe before a shout from Daisy stopped them. "She`s okay. She`s with me!", "With you? Where on earth did you find this hare?", Emmet asked baffled as Blaire found most of her courage return. "It`s rabbit, not hare. And your friend met me on my own world. Many of my species walk the earth alongside other species…or used to be if that bomb wasn`t miraculously stopped.", Blaire replied trying not to sound hostile or saddend.

"Wait a minute, bomb? As in electric bomb from another world?", Crabman asked as everyone looked at each other in surprise by what they heard. "That`s what I was told by Daisy. Said her world was destroyed by a strange bomb and that another was going to detonate on my world. I caught a tiny glimpse of it during the attack", Blaire said. Feeling she made enough of an impression to appear safe (along with Daisy gesturing for her to come over), she started to walk closer to the group. While she approached the now curious and less afraid humans, the sand under her shoes began to vibrate from the Beta Destroyers backup activation.

"This is a strange series of events going on. First Emmet and his world get attacked and wiped out. Then, after some time passed it happens to me and Randy`s world followed by the rabbit's world", Crabman stated before Blair reached the tiny crowd. By this point nobody was completely scared of her, though a few of the humans gave her an occasional uneasy glance, which she returned. Randy was about to ask if she had any candy until Daisy told him she wasn`t the Easter bunny, much to his annoyance.

"Whatever is happening, we must be dealing with a wide scale planned attack. Our homes destructions were not an isolated incident.", Emmet told the group. "So there was more than one or two attacks going on out there? Crap. James, Velvet, the other humans…everyone had better be okay if the worst happens and they ended up being sent to another world", the anthro rabbit said with worry.

Emmet and Hyacinth suddenly looked startled by what Blaire said. "Other humans? By chance were they named Richard and Elizabeth?", Hyacinth asked. "They were with me through most of my time in Blaire`s anthropomorphic animal world. We got separated attacking that drone", Daisy spoke up for the rabbit. As the drone started to shift with Crabman being the first to notice, Emmet exclaimed, "That means that Liz is alive and well. I may have a chance to find her again!", "I do hope Richard being in another world doesn`t corrupt his mind. What would the rest of my neighbors say if they hear that my husband went off the deep end?", Hyacinth boasted.

"Um guys and rabbits, I hate to tell you this but I don`t think that drone is destroyed!", Crabman interrupted before he started to lead the whole group back from the now quivering drone. A few seconds after he said this, eight metallic tentacles emerged from the half buried Beta Destroyer. Quickly detecting all the targets with a censor it swung at the group, who all scattered in the nick of time. The force of impact managed to quake the ground and bring up a ton of sand in the air.

As the dust cleared, Hyacinth fully recovered first and sprinted towards the building shrieking while everyone else stood their ground and observed the flapping tentacles in motion. "What the heck is that thing!?", Randy exclaimed. "I don`t know, but it looks ready to take another swipe at us!", Rose answered seeing the tentacles get ready to strike again.

Even though they were scattered this time, the Beta Destroyer managed to detect all six targets and swung rapidly at them without stopping. "Evade!", Crabman shouted over the chaos as he and everyone started running back and forth.

 **Target/Prompt/Action done if succeeded/Damage to health taken if missed** **:**

 **-** _ **Rose**_ **/X button/Dives to the left/5%**

 **-** _ **Blaire**_ **/Triangle button/Jumps and unintentionally bumps into Randy/5%**

 **-** _ **Randy**_ **/Circle button/Jumps but gets slightly flipped/10%**

 **-** _ **Crabman**_ **/Triangle button/Does a complex evading move between two swiping tentacles/15%**

 **-** _ **Randy**_ **/Square button/Jumps again, almost falls atop Emmet/5%**

 **-** _ **Emmet**_ **/Square button/Dives to the left/15%**

 **-** _ **Daisy**_ **/X button/Dives to the right/5%**

 **-** _ **Rose**_ **/Circle button/Runs faster out of the target zone/10%**

 **-** _ **Blaire**_ **/X button/Rolls out of the way towards Rose after a bit of sand gets in her eye/5%**

As Blaire got up and stumbled over to her while wiping her eyes, Rose exclaimed, "We have to take that thing down. It could summon more of those drones to our location or find a way to destroy our shelter some more!", "You have my support", Blaire stated cracking her knuckles. "Yeah. I`m ready to fight! Enough ducking and running!", Crabman exclaimed flexing his muscles a bit to warm up. "Same here", Daisy added trying to mimic him poorly. Randy and Emmet looked ready to bail as they stared at the ominous machine eager to smash them, though a glare from Blaire and Crabman told them they needed to stay and help no matter what. Together, all six fighters went towards the Beta Destroyer ready to rumble.

 **Fight 3-5:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Crabman**

 **-Emmet**

 **-Randy**

 **-Rose**

 **-Blaire**

 **-Daisy**

 _ **Opponent:**_

 **-Beta Destroyer (main base and 8 metal tentacles)**

 _After the fight:_

Piece by piece, the Beta Destroyer found itself falling apart during the fight. One attack after the next steadily weakened it despite the fact that it attacked quicker and more desperately. Finally, the last inevitable blow struck it and destroyed it.

The six fighters let out a victory cheer. Rose hugged Randy excitedly and made him blush, Daisy, Crabman and Blaire shared some high fives (with Crabman complimenting Blaire`s fighting style and the rabbit admitting his own moves were very skillful as well) and Emmet just enjoyed the fact he was still alive and in one piece.

A pair of footsteps approaching everyone from behind got the groups attention. "Onslow!", Daisy gasped in surprise when she saw her husband and Hyacinth approach the destroyed Beta Destroyer looking in disbelief. After examining the damaged drone, Onslow turned to face everyone and asked, "Did you do this?", "Yeah! We kicked its ass!", Randy cheered, making Hyacinth quickly scold him to watch his tongue. Shaking his head in amazement, Onslow exclaimed, "Bloody hell. You all made an amazing impression in fighting if you ask me. Oh, you must be the anthropomorphic rabbit Hyacinth mentioned", before looking at Blaire.

Fearing she`d face some more xenophobia, Blaire got ready to defend herself against any hostility spoken to her. To her surprise, Onslow simply gave a small smile and said, "Welcome to our new world. We could use some more company out here", "Why, thank you", Blaire said before Daisy brushed past her and hugged her husband with glee.

"This feels too good to be true. Are you really my husband?", Daisy asked. Looking apathetically at her, Onslow replied, "By chance did you pick up any bacon when you were gone? I could use a decent meal", "Oh Onslow! It really is you!", Daisy gleefully cheered jumping up and down and hugging Onslow tighter until he broke off the hug.

Glancing at the Beta Destroyer, Emmet exclaimed, "I hate to ruin the victory celebration and the reunion, but I feel unsafe being out here next to this thing. What exactly do we do with it?", "Maybe we can study the technology and use it to fight back if any more of these things show up. Seems like the smart idea for the long run if we can harness whatever we`re dealing with", Crabman said. "If we can`t, maybe we can use the scrap to patch the hole in the roof. I`d hate for a sand storm to blow sand inside thanks to the things damage", Rose added.

"Speaking of damages, I cleared the doorway for the table room. We`ll be able to enter it again", Onslow stated, getting Blaire, Crabman, Daisy and Randy`s attention. "Table room? Why do you make it sound like a big deal?", Blaire asked, noting Onslow`s tone. "Perhaps we can all go inside and I can tell you about the discoveries that me and Emmet made earlier. I`m sure there are a few things we all need to tell each other to understand the bigger picture", Onslow replied. "That sounds like an excellent idea Onslow. Maybe I can have a makeshift candlelight supper. To think, me hosting a dinner event with beings from other dimensions. I wish I had some neighbors here to think and talk about that!", Hyacinth excitedly exclaimed before telling Rose, Daisy and Onslow they could just stay in the table room while she entertained everyone else. Blaire could only give Hyacinth a perplexed and irritated look to that statement.

As Hyacinth lead the way to the building dragging Blaire along (eager to get the honor of befriending an anthro animal like her sister), Crabman stayed behind. "You guys go ahead. I`ll see what I can salvage and study from this", he called. "Okay. If anythin` happens, holler!", Onslow called back before his focus went to the building. The series of events did indicate something big was going on, bigger than he anticipated. He hoped that hearing his wife and Blaire`s full stories along with sharing his own would help him get some answers. Perhaps they connected with the table along with his and Emmet`s discoveries.

As Crabman ripped open a section of the drone to examine the wiring within, he didn`t notice that close by a camera and listening device that were now broken were close to him and that until recently it had filmed and picked up everything said straight to a dangerous person.

 **End of Deer Me (story arc 3)**

 **Everyone`s status`:**

-Hyacinth, Onslow, Rose, Emmet, Daisy, Crabman, Randy, Blaire (in the unknown mystery world)

-Vianna, Velvet, Thomas, James, _Devan [NPC]_ , Richard, Liz (status unknown after electric blast destroyed "Deer Me" world)

-Earl, Joy, Catalina (unknown)

-Daddy (unknown, last spotted by Velvet at the mall)


	23. Intermission 2

From his private room in the spaceship, the boss watched the final footage that The Beta Destroyer had managed to send before it was destroyed looking worried. A lot of the visual and audio he was seeing didn`t add up and/or scared him.

There was one shot of three humans in a world alongside some an anthro deer, skunk, rabbit, horse and sheep despite the fact that his data on the world said no humans were supposed to exist there. Another shot showed a strange table with the faint markings drawn on it that was taken when the Beta Destroyer crashed through the building. This was the image that sent the biggest chill down the bosses spine. "So they really did craft that thing before I destroyed them", the boss muttered to himself as he moved from the visuals to the audio. There was chatter, though it was mainly faint and blurry. What he could pick up from the talk was that beings from different dimensions were together in one unknown area that the Beta Destroyers software could not pinpoint for some reason.

Shutting off the super computer, the boss left his room and walked back towards the bridge of the ship to overlook the Earth again. Along the way, he contacted Mal and told him to come meet him right away with his backup plan notes, making it clear he was in no mood to have his lackey dilly dally.

As the boss looked down on Earth and noted that no dimension erasing explosions were taking place for the time being, Mal ran up to him holding a thick folder. "You called?", "Yes Mal. I didn`t accidently butt dial you or anything. Yeesh!", the boss replied with frustration.

"What`s wrong? You sound troubled at the moment", Mal noted, prompting the boss to grab him by his tie and drag him towards the window. "Look at that! We are making zero progress with my master plan! Without a superior drone giving the orders all the armies between dimensions are left basically clueless what to do! I can control one army in one world at a time from here, but that pacing would leave me busy until I was 140, and nobody lived that long, did they!?", "No boss. I believe the closest person to reach that age was that French lady-", Mal began before the boss shoved him away.

"I`m not in the mood for trivia, Mal. And if my invasion stopping without even being a fourth complete wasn`t bad enough, it looks like those men who threatened us before we killed them came through with their threat to potentially stop us!", the boss said, making Mals eyes widen in horror. "You mean-", "Yes. I`m not F-ing around here. I need to find a way to get my armies back in action and wipe out all the other worlds. Remember when I sent you to find that potential backup project? The one I was right about in terms of needing one?", the boss stated.

Remembering the folder he held, Mal exclaimed, "Oh. Yes, I remember. Here it is in fact: Project Collar. It could give us better results than those two bigshot drones could have ever given. In fact, I have most of the equipment ready to go", before holding it up to his boss.

Snatching it from Mals hand, the boss read the contents in the folder with his eyes lighting up in interest at the great details and powers explained to him. "This sounds like a good idea. Even better, it might help us work fast enough to take down every other surviving dimension", "Yeah, but we need two ordinary non-drone beings to pull off the task. Since our staff is too thinned out at the moment, I suggest we use that single world army control thingamajig to catch our perfect "recruits"", Mal stated.

Nodding, the boss handed the folder back to Mal and approached the master controls in front of him. After launching a nearby monitor open and scanning a few digital maps and files for the right dimension, he exclaimed, "Here`s a good world we can attack to find the two new perfect replacements: The Finji-verse".

Quickly, the boss launched the closest army into motion towards the dimension with a few taps of the controls before telling Mal, "Hold onto your hat. This next attack will be a big personal one…for me!"


	24. Night in the Woods- Part 1

_Chapter 4: Quiet Town No More_

 _Night in the Woods_

 **Earl narrating:** "You know that guy who`s trying to have a normal day by his own standards only for something to make it go out of control? Well, that was me. After doing another item on my karma list, I was prepared to take it easy with my friends when an unknown attack had everyone running and fighting for their lives. It was tough and we experienced some victories, but in the end everyone who was left in Camden literally got blasted out of our world. With me, Joy and Catalina together, it feels as though we are in for more battles along the way and in for an experience we won`t be forgetting any time soon. I`m just trying to figure out what the hell is going on. My name is Earl."

 **Scene shown:** _Before the narrating starts Earl, Joy and Catalina are shown falling in a black void of nothingness and screaming in a similar matter to Richard, Liz and Daisy in the previous chapter. The story then cuts to some snippets of flashbacks from chapter two which consists of (in order):_ Earl about to get beat up by the Game Stop employees, the broadcast of the attack, Randy and Earl running down the street after the fight in the Crab Shack, Joy and Crabman facing off against the Golden Alpha Drone at the trailer park, Catalina, Joy and Earl winning the fight in the motel parking lot and the electric wave from the bomb blast swallowing up the trio. _As the narration wraps up, it cuts back to the trio as they notice a bright light approaching and stop screaming. They brace themselves and crash into a bunch of bushes and greenery. As the narrating gets to the title drop of the TV show, Earl emerges from the bushes he landed in looking dazed before the logo from the show appears next to him and quickly disappears._

Behind Earl, Joy and Catalina emerged from the bushes trying to catch their breathes and stop shaking from what they experienced. "What just happened to us?", Earl asked nearly stumbling as he approached the two women. Pulling out some leaves and twigs from her hair and clothing, Joy managed to say, "I don`t know, but that was the scariest thing I ever experienced in my life. More than that time I thought the Y2K bug caught me when we were holed up in the pharmacy on the first day of the 21st century", "That was nothing. The scariest moment prior to that electric wave hitting me was when I thought I saw Death roaming outside my village as a small child, though that turned out to be a senile old man who loved to run around at night wearing black clothing for no real reason", Catalina said, earning a confused look from Joy for a moment.

Moving on from the topic, the trio glanced around the area they were in for the first time with full focus and noted they were in a thick forest with no sign of civilization close by. "Randy? Crabman? Is anyone out there?!", Earl called before Joy covered his mouth. "Not so loud dummy. We don`t know if any more drones are out there waiting to freeze us. And speaking of "there", where the heck are we? It doesn`t make sense being here considering we just got hit by a bomb blast. We were in Camden and now we`re in the middle of a forest? There must be some big explanation", Joy loudly whispered before taking her hand away from Earl.

"Maybe we`re in the afterlife, like a purgatory or something?", Catalina suggested, making Earl shake his head no. "Doesn`t seem like the right explanation. Look, maybe if we walk around a bit in a certain direction we can find something that will give us a clue as to where we are, along with Randy and Crabman", he said. "Sounds like the only good idea for now. We`d better find a safe place with a bed and hot food cause I ain`t sleeping and eating in the wild like an animal if we stay out too long", Joy stated looking up and noting the first rays of dawn were shining in the sky above her. "I agree to. I feel unsafe being here for some reason, and not just because we were blasted to the area", Catalina added.

Carefully, Earl picked a random path and lead the way forward with Catalina and Joy following closely behind, looking out for any drones or other forms of danger as well as some familiar faces.

 **Earl narrating:** "Me, my ex-wife and my brother's ex-wife were all mystified being in a familiar yet unknown place. While I was hoping that wherever we walked would literally get us out of the woods, little did we realize that we were far from our own world".

 **Scene shown:** _The first shot has Earl, Joy and Catalina making steady progress through the forest while they continue to look around apprehensively. The camera then pans upward and shows a town close by. A billboard that reads_ : Welcome to Possum Springs _stands out. After this, the story cuts to another new character's perspective._

In what appeared to be a dark and deserted tunnel many miles underground, an anthro black cat by the name of Mae Borowski walked down the claustrophobic path quickly, looking around fearfully. "Bea? Gregg? Angus? Hello!? Is anyone there?!", she shouted at her not there friends, her lonely voice bouncing around the walls and greeting only the silence ahead.

Like the three humans, Mae had no concrete idea as to how she ended up here but felt it would be best to get out fast and return home to her mother and father before they worried where she was. There was something in the air here that told her danger wasn`t too far back.

As she moved further down the only path in front of her, the cats' feet began to ache. Stopping, Mae knelt down for a moment and readjusted her boots, easing the pressure. "At least that`s one less problem", she told herself before looking up to get another unexpected surprise.

Mae let out a gasp upon seeing that she was no longer in the narrow tunnels but in an open underground room with thick rafters above her and a deep pit close by, with a distant haunting voice barely audible coming from it.

Feeling her heart beat loudly, Mae started to hyperventilate as the familiarity and memories of the place came back to her. "This is where the cultists died. Where the cave in took place. Where me and my friends nearly got killed…", she began to say aloud noting the blocked path via. rockslide not too far away. Suddenly, bitterness overcame her as some more facts about the earlier events returned to her mind.

"This is also where they killed Casey and many others…I don`t feel sorry. Mostly", Mae told herself trying to sound braver than she could. All the muster she built up became useless however as some strange shadows against the walls suddenly moved towards her, freaking the cat out more than ever.

It felt there was nowhere for Mae to run as tall shadows blocked every possible direction to run towards. As she looked around desperately for a weapon or a sudden opening, the shadow in front of Mae suddenly grew taller and looked down at her with menacing red eyes. "Mae Borowski", it said in a demonic tone before grabbing the feline by the throat.

Struggling not to suffocate in the grasp of the being, Mae managed to choke out, "What do you want with me?" The answer she got somehow made her more confused than scared. "The perfect fate for you in any world", the menacing figure said before starting to tighten its grip on Mae`s neck. As Mae struggled and shouted for her friend's names again, the surrounding shadowy figures started to laugh while her neck started to feel like it was breaking in two. The sickening crunch that followed along with Mae going limp…

"Ahh!", Mae shouted as she sat up quickly. Looking around, the feline calmed down and convinced herself she was okay. She wasn`t in the abandoned mines but in her attic room of the Borowski residence in Possum Springs, safe in bed under the covers.

As the terror of the dream lingered in the dark recesses of her mind, Mae reached down to pick up a journal under her bed that was full of sketches she took three weeks ago. Also grabbing a pen from the small desk behind her head, she started to draw the image of her death by the shadow creature with some exaggerated details.

Halfway through the drawings completion, Mae paused and found herself flipping through the past, examining all the other sketches she did during a terrifying journey she and everyone involved knew they would never forget any time soon. Just looking at the drawings were enough to make Mae reflect everything perfectly.

A few months back, Mae Borowski had dropped out of college and returned to her small home town. Though she had her parents love and support, the feline also had her past haunting her due to a childhood incident where she beat up another kid with a bat, earning the nickname "Killer".

During her free spirited days of roaming Possum Springs, she met up with some old friends. Beatrice "Bea" Santello (an anthro alligator who ran the family business), Greggory "Gregg" Lee (a fox who worked at the new Snack Falcon) and Angus Delaney (Greggs bear boyfriend who ran the video rental store). The hangouts done with them varied and were good intentioned yet seemed to lean towards a stressful note thanks to some of Mae`s childish antics causing unintentional problems.

However, a real problem came for everyone during the towns fall Harvest Festival when Mae witnessed a hooded figure abduct someone. Though she got her friends to help out, things really took a turn for the creepy when a hooded figure began to stalk Mae, ultimately resulting in a severe head injury when the group checked out the woods and discovered a cult of murderers.

After opening up to Bea and Gregg about a disorder she developed years ago making her see everything as meaningless shapes (which was also a reason why she attacked the kid and why she left college in the first place), the four friends ended up confronting the cult in the mines where they learned another missing friend, Casey Hartley, was one of many kidnapped sacrifices to appease the cults apparent God called the Black Goat. After being held at gunpoint and ordered to leave, the four were attacked by one of the cultists who refused to accept the order to let the friends walk away.

During the attack Mae was grabbed, an old mine elevator decapitated the cultists head and his remaining cohorts were buried in a collapse caused by the falling elevator. Mae and her friends got out alive, though they knew that what they went through was far from over in a personal sense.

Reflecting on all those memories made Mae lose her interests in drawing. Tearing out the sketch of her death, she pitched the paper in a wastebasket and set the notebook aside. Why the heck was she still drawing in this thing? The town doctor who had first tried to treat her mental condition did nothing but tell her to draw, which he said would allegedly help with any mental disorder she felt.

Now that her parents had gotten to know exactly what was wrong with her thanks to some more open talks Mae had with them recently, she`d be seeing a new and more qualified therapist in the near future. Until then, she was doing her best to behave with her friend's support.

The thought of her friends made Mae get out of bed and stretch before approaching her laptop which lay next to her guitar. Booting up the computer, Mae looked at the screen and saw the communication pages linking her to Gregg, Bea, Angus and the late feline known as Casey. There was also Sharkle, a digital sketch on a cartoony shark that made a cute noise when you clicked it, though Mae only did it once before clicking on the link to Gregg. To her surprise, the fox was already there and ready to chat. The orange words in the message box popped up onscreen quickly.

Gregg: Hey Dude How you holding up 2day?

Mae: So far so good. Anything interesting happening with you and Angus today?

Gregg: For me, yes I have a HUGE surprise that Angus doesn`t even know about I`ll tell you all about it when we meet up the Party Barn The Snack Falcon is closed 4 renovations.

Mae: Can`t wait to hear your surprise. Can you give me a hint? Please? I promise I won`t tell Angus or Bea.

Gregg: Sorry, you`ll just have to wait till band practice! L8er!

After spending a moment trying to guess what Gregg had in store for everyone, Mae moved on and clicked on Bea`s link, also getting a quick reply when she started typing to her.

Mae: Hey Beabea, you there?

Bea: Yes. You feel good enough today to have an early morning band practice?

Mae: You bet I am. Tell your dad I said thanks for letting you have a day off.

Bea: Sure thing. I`ve even picked up some food from the Taco Buck. My treat.

Mae: You are a miracle worker.

Bea: Don`t flatter yourself. I`m just trying to do what`s best to have a peaceful and happy day. Ever since the events in the mine I`ve had a moment or two where I lost focus on work. Must be the stress getting to me. Anyway, I`ll pick you up at your house and we`ll head to the Party Barn together. Gregg and Angus will probably be there by then.

Mae: Okay. See you soon.

Mae clicked on Angus` link next after the digital chat with Bea ended, but got no reply from the bear. Must have left home already, Mae thought before closing the computer. As she walked over and stood in front of her mirror to check out her appearance, Mae started debating what to do until Bea showed up. She considered going downstairs to talk to her mom before going out. Maybe there was an interesting horror book she read that she was eager to talk about.

Out of nowhere a loud boom was heard outside followed by a loud crash and an endless car horn blaring on for several moments before it stopped. The noises sent Mae rushing to her window to peer outside. It looked like it came from her neighbor's house, the notoriously cranky crocodile Mr. Penderson, with some debris from his house scattered in the backyard.

Her curiosity overcoming her, Mae sprinted downstairs to get a better look at the damages. On the way, she stopped in the second floor hallway to readjust a tilted framed photo of her late grandpa and gave a sad smile at the memories she had of him before he passed away. "Rest well Grandpa", she said before she continued to sprint for the front door.

When Mae got outside she was surprised to see that her mom was already on the front porch looking at the house next door in disbelief, some letters in hand. Mae looked at what her mother was staring at and a near identical facial expression came to her. Apparently, a car had crashed into Mr. Penderson`s house and it wasn`t any usual crash. Rather than the bottom of the house being hit and damaged, it looked like someone had picked up the vehicle and dropped it down on the second floor from above, causing a huge gap in the middle of the roof. The vehicle itself was empty, as if whoever was in the car had vanished in midair.

"Mom, what happened?", Mae exclaimed as Mr. Penderson hobbled outside on his cane and started to freak out while other neighbors and passersby started to gather around. "I don`t know kitten. I was just getting the mail when that car fell out of the sky, literally. Reminds me of a scene from one of my horror novels", Candy Borowski said with disbelief in her voice. She then glanced at Mr. Penderson as he began to hobble over to them aggressively.

"What have you done this time Mae Borowski?! Egging my house back then wasn`t good enough for you ya scourge?", he said giving Mae a death glare behind his thick glasses. "Wait a minute, you think I did this?! I was in bed when that car crashed (though I admit your house does look cooler like this now that I think about it)", Mae exclaimed, the first part out loud and the second part mostly to herself.

Seeing the crocodile fuming and noting he wasn`t believing her daughter, Candy looked ready to get into a bit of bickering with her feline hating neighbor when a cop car pulled up. To her relief, her sister Molly (known as "Aunt Mall Cop" to Mae) stepped out and approached with an anthro bird officer. "All right, settle down everyone. Back away", she said getting between her family members and their neighbor as the bird cop escorted some of the crowd away from the front lawn.

"Officer. Thank goodness you came here. My house got smashed by that car. I just know that little brat has something to do with this", Mr. Penderson stated as he pointed accusingly at Mae. After glancing back at her rebellious niece for a moment and then at the damage, Molly shook her head and said, "I know my niece. This isn`t something she`d be capable of. In fact, I don`t think this is anything anyone in town could be capable of either", "Hey, I can be capable of anything I set my mind to Aunt Mall Cop", Mae declared, making her mom signal her not to continue that statement.

Deciding it was best to ignore the young rebel for now, the old crocodile continued to rant. "Well that automobile ended up on my roof somehow. It didn`t just fly here on its own. What I want to know is who did this", Mr. Penderson stated as Mae glanced ahead spotting a familiar face. To her excitement, she saw it was Bea approaching.

"Officer Laurence, check the car out. There may be something that has an ID of the owner in the glove compartment", Molly ordered, prompting the bird cop and Mr. Penderson to head inside. As the duo entered the house and Molly walked away to radio back to the station after giving her sister a small supportive nod, Bea reached the Borowskis front lawn and looked up at the damage with the small crowd.

"Whoa", the alligator flatly said, her cigarette in her mouth nearly falling out from surprise. "Bea! Over here!", Mae excitedly called from the porch as she waved her friend over. As Bea spotted her and came her way, Mae noticed that she had her heavy laptop bag with her (the one that didn`t seem to go well with the reptile's goth clothes in her opinion) along with a breakfast bag from Taco Buck.

Before Mae could ask Bea if she had anything for her to eat, her mom greeted her friend. "Beatrice, how nice to see you", "Thanks Mrs. Borowski. Just came here to pick Mae up for band practice. Didn`t expect to see something like this when I got here though. What exactly happened?", Bea asked before gesturing towards the car as she stepped onto the porch.

"It was an epic crash. There was even a huge explosion, like a blockbuster movie!", Mae excitedly said throwing her hands in the air excitedly. Bea didn`t look convinced by Mae`s childish answer. Nonetheless, the alligator decided to just carry on in an attempt to continue the conversation. "Well, glad to know it wasn`t your house or mine".

"Same here. Anyways, I`m glad you stopped by to walk with my daughter to band practice Beatrice. I know this is demeaning to her, but I feel safer for my kitten when she`s around town with a friend instead of alone for the time being, given her recent head injury.", Candy replied, making Bea give Mae an "I`m sorry" look for a split second as the cat glowered. "I`m standing right here mom. Besides, my injury has healed and it`s just band practice. Dad seemed cool about it last night", Mae said bitterly, annoyed that she was being referred to like a toddler.

Before Candy could reply to Mae, a shout from Mr. Penderson about telling the cop to watch where he was walking got the trios attention at the house again. Mae, Bea and Candy watched Officer Laurence and Mr. Penderson approach the car from the exposed part of the roof, with the bird cop walking ahead and opening the partially crushed driver's door.

While Mae observed the cop shuffling around to find anything helpful, she thought of her mom's comments about not wanting her to go out in town alone. Though the idea made her bitter, she admitted that her parents had a point when they created the new temporary rules after the cult members unknown demise. She had a few close calls with death during the ordeal and still secretly feared a few members who weren't in the cavern that fateful night were roaming around the town, looking for revenge. To Mae, her new lifestyle was embarrassing but a necessity for the time being.

For Bea, she didn`t seem to mind walking around with Mae sometimes on her free time as the events in the mine also left her more spooked than she cared to admit, especially when she worked alone at the Santellos store. It felt nice to have someone watch her back like Gregg and Angus did, even if that someone behaved like an annoying little sister at some moments.

After a minute passed with Officer Laurence not finding anything, Bea felt watching anymore would be a waste of time and told Mae, "You ready to head out for band practice? Got a call from Angus before I arrived here saying that he and Gregg are prepping up at the Party Barn", "Sure am. I can`t wait to see Greggs big surprise. I`m also hungry for a breakfast monster taco", Mae declared, prompting Bea to casually hand her the bag and tell her to help herself.

As Bea started to lead the way back to the street with Mae following behind, Candy quickly called to Mae to be home before 7 o`clock. Mae said she would before stuffing her face with the best food in the entire world.

After Bea and Mae left the neighborhood, Molly reproached the house and called out to her partner. "Find anything?", "Yeah. Found some papers in the glove compartment. It was wedged shut thanks to the impact", Laurence called before stepping out with said papers in hand. "Well then, who`s car is this? I guarantee they`ll be hearing from me really soon", Mr. Penderson bitterly stated as he watched the cop read over the new evidence.

"Huh. That`s strange. The car belongs to a Richard and Hyacinth Bucket from…darn, this is smudged a bit…from somewhere in England. Documents are from the country itself", Officer Laurence said. Down below, Molly saw her sister shiver a bit and asked if something was wrong. "For some reason I have a desire to correct him by saying it`s pronounced Bouquet.", Candy answered before Molly went into the house to help Laurence with the investigation, a look of bafflement on her face from that statement.


	25. Night in the Woods- Part 2

As Mae and Bea reached the next block, the duo took in the peaceful surrounding of their town. Though it wasn`t perfect and was still economically in the red for the most part, the place just felt good enough to be in. All the leaves had fallen from the trees and an occasional chill came to the girls as they stepped past the old pavements. Three small kids ran by excitedly playing a game of tag and each excitedly boasted that they were going to win.

Swallowing the last piece of her taco, Mae tossed the empty bag aside and looked at a few nearby houses to see if anything interesting was going on. Her former astronomy teacher Mr. Chazokov was out of town due to a family emergency, meaning that potential dusk star gazing with his telescope on his roof was out of the question for today. However, his next door apartment neighbor Selma "Selmers" Forrester stepped out and sat on her usual spot on the front stairs, trying to think of ideas to write for her poetry.

Excitedly, Mae left Bea and approached Selmers while exclaiming "Hi", to her. "Hey Mae. Bea", Selmers said casually as she pulled out a pen and notebook. "So, you write anything good today?", Mae excitedly prodded as Selmers started jotting something down, knowing the anthro bear had a knack for writing the most amazing poetry in the whole wide world. She listened to her works almost every day since she came home.

"Mae, don`t bother Selmers. We have to get to the Party Barn", Bea said approaching her friend, seeing her behavior as pestering. "It`s okay Bea. I wrote two poems yesterday and I was looking for someone to give me feedback. Care to listen Mae?", Selmers replied. Mae nodded happily and whispered to Bea, "This is just like when we heard her at the library during the poetry society meeting!", as Selmers flipped back to a few previously written pages in her notebook.

Clearing her throat, she read her first poem:

 _I like to sleep I like to dream_

 _Yet sometimes when I try to understand what I see_

 _Some things that appear are not what they seem._

Mae gave a round of applause while Bea only raised an eyebrow, admittedly a bit impressed with the passion in the three sentences spoken. "Read the next one. Read the next one", Mae excitedly chanted. Smiling, Selmers flipped a page and read her next work in a somber tone. As she did, Bea`s small smile quickly faded to a cold expression.

 _I love my house._

 _My house is grand_

 _Yet no home is always yours_

 _When the government and bills make their stand_

 _I always feel I`ll be kicked out on the street_

 _Never given a sense of closure or something to eat_

Mae started to give a round of applause until Bea put a hand on her shoulder and dragged her away while saying, "Thanks Selmers, but me and Mae need to get going. Friends got a curfew today". Selmers looked a bit puzzled as she waved goodbye while Mae looked a bit baffled by her friend's behavior.

"Why did we leave? It was just getting good", Mae exclaimed after walking half the block down the street with Bea. "That last poem just got...personal", Bea could only exclaim before glancing back at the building behind her. Mae looked her direction and noted the apartment where the Bea and her father were living in. Quickly, the facts clicked together in her mind.

The Santello family used to live in a house similar to Mae`s own with two stories, plenty of space and in a nice and quiet area. It was a dream place for a family. However, Mrs. Santello developed cancer when her daughter was in high school. All the money spent on treatments in the bid to cure her became useless for the Santellos as she died during Bea`s senior year.

With no way to pay for the house afterwards, Bea and her father moved to the smaller and less pleasing apartment behind her. It wasn`t a bad apartment but considering all the happy memories Bea had from her old home, Mae understood why her friend loathed living there. It was a reminder of the worst part of her and her family's life.

"Bea, I`m sorry. I forgot for a moment…", "It`s okay. Let's just get to band practice", Bea stated as she continued walking. Mae followed and looked back at the apartment one last time, thinking she`d spot Mr. Santello for a moment (who was still having issues over his wife's death all those years later and had seen better days as well).

As Bea and Mae got to the next street, which contained Beas place of occupation and an entrance to the towns Trolley Tunnels along with the Party Barn, Mae noticed the town message board and paused for a moment to see if anything new was posted for the day. There was an ad for used Christmas decorations sold by someone with an overstuffed attic, a flyer about another meeting to Unionize the local Ham Panther food store (where Mae`s father was working) and a torn up fragment of a missing person's poster.

Snatching the fragment, Mae`s heart sank when she discovered it was for Casey Hartley. Bea also stopped and when she saw what Mae held, a small frown appeared on her face as well. "I forgot to ask yesterday when we talked over the computer: How is Gregg holding up?", she asked. "Not the best. I know Casey was my friend but to Gregg he was a real bro to him, so you can see why his death by that cult hit him the hardest", Mae replied, thinking of the events she had yesterday when walking around with Gregg.

While his boyfriend was busy at work, Gregg had skipped the second half of his shift to hang out with Mae. After stealing and gobbling some pretzels from the Trolleyside News pierogi stand together (or in Greggs view, it was him and Mae doing their usual pastime "Crimes") the duo were having their laughs over how they easily duped the vendor. It was at that moment Gregg saw the missing friend's poster and his fun nature came to a halt. He approached it and ripped most it from the bulletin, leaving only the fragment with Casey`s name on it.

As he flung the poster into the nearby trash can, Mae asked if something was bothering him. She knew why Gregg was upset but this was a new level. "I tried calling Casey`s parents last night under a fake name to tell them the truth about the cult and everything. His mom didn`t know it was me but yelled at me for trying to force some conspiracy theorist garbage on me. Kidnapped by a psychotic cult and sacrificed? Ridiculous!", Gregg exclaimed, doing his best to mimic Mrs. Hartley at the end.

"Ouch. That was harsh", Mae stated. "Yeah. So much for the plans we all made together back in the good old days. I just wish there was some closure I could give Casey. Nobody but you, me, Angus and Bea know the truth and that`s all it will ever be", Gregg replied. Patting him on the back, Mae asked gently if there was anything they could do for the time being that would cheer him up. Sniffing, Gregg asked if there were any windows they could smash with Mae suggesting the abandoned Food Donkey grocery store would do.

Back in the present, Mae found herself looking at the remains of the missing person's poster and put it in the same trashcan the other part went to. No point dwelling too much on the past. It was what Casey would have wanted her and Gregg to do anyways.

Moving along, Bea and Mae walked to their destination nearby destination. Before they reached the building, Bea glanced inside the Old Pick Ax for a moment with a look of disgust on her face. Mae also looked inside through the front window and noticed a raccoon employee talking on the phone but decided not to ask what specifically was bothering Bea about him. The house poem incident was already a punch to her friend.

Together, the two friends reached the former retail and now abandoned but still in use building known as the Party Barn. Mae opened the door and called out to Gregg and Angus, getting no reply. "That`s funny. I thought they were here already", Mae exclaimed as Bea followed her in, slamming the door shut behind her. Before she could call out again, Mae then spotted what looked to be Gregg slouching by the stage in the rear of the store.

"Gregg! We`re here! What`s the big surprise you got?", the feline called approaching the fox while Bea hung back, clearing noting that the Gregg facing away from her was a dummy (with the straw sticking out and the way the body slumped being a dead giveaway). Rather than tell Mae, she watched with some self-amazement as her friend shook the dummy to get its attention, only to jump back freaked out when the head fell off and hit the floor with a clang.

"Ah! Bea! I think I killed Gregg…wait a minute, this is one of those abandoned electronics from the Food Donkey", Mae exclaimed taking a closer look at the head. At that moment, the real Gregg jumped out from behind the huge speaker on the stage exclaiming, "Surprise!", while waving his arms excitedly for a bit. Angus then emerged from a door close by caring a microphone stand held together with some freshly applied duct tape.

"Gregg! You really gave me a scare you idiot!", Mae exclaimed as Bea and Angus approached them. "Yeah, got you good. Too bad you didn`t get a heart attack", Gregg playfully teased. "Too bad you didn`t fall off the stage and crack your skull", Mae retorted in a similar tone. "Too bad an earthquake didn`t hit just now and crushed you with some debris, tearing you in half", "Too bad I didn`t accidently tear your real head off and fling it all the way across town like a ball and into an oncoming speeding train spilling blood and gooey matter everywhere!"

"Mae, bug, you two can settle down now. Both your ideas of dying were creative as a whole", Angus said before waving hello to the girls. "Gotta admit, Cap`n here really knows quality insults when he sees it", Gregg beamed before giving his boyfriend a quick kiss on the cheek, making Angus blush a bit.

Approaching her usual place on the stage, Bea took off her laptop carrier and set it on a small table before pulling out her laptop. As she booted it up to activate the "drums" she would play, she glanced at Gregg and said, "I was told by Mae that you have a surprise. What is it exactly?", "Wait, was the surprise the dummy prank?", Mae guessed before Angus quickly reminded her that her guitar she left behind from the last practice was in the back of the store.

"Nope, it`s even better. Plus, it involves me and Angus!", Gregg answered cheerfully, as if he couldn`t wait to spill it out. This got Angus` attention as he set the microphone stand down on stage. "Wait, really? What are you talking about?", he asked. "I figured I`d let you know when we finish band practice. Since this is our special day to relax and have fun, the good news will be the cherry on top here!", Gregg answered before telling Mae to grab her instrument as well as his from the back so they could all start playing their planned out songs.

Mae ran off for the back as Angus looked ready to try and get Gregg to spill the beans earlier, but then decided to let him tell the secret later if that was what he wanted. Instead, he had some small talk with Bea about how things were going before Mae returned, handing Gregg his bass and stroking her guitar while declaring she was ready to play.

"What song should we do first? Die Anywhere Else? Weird Autumn?", Mae eagerly asked as her bandmates also got ready to perform. Before anyone could give a suggestion, a strange sound came from the sky, making the four look up surprised. "What the eff was that?", Gregg exclaimed. "Don`t know. Doesn`t sound like anything I`ve heard before", Angus replied.

After a few moments passed with the strange sound faded away, Mae broke the silence first by suggesting that it could be an alien invasion, though Bea dismissed it and said it was probably nothing that would affect them. "We came here to take it easy and to forget about our worries in life for a short amount of time. Let`s just play some music. Besides, there`s probably a logical explanation to that noise. Like a plane or something". With that, everyone took Bea`s advice and the four friends took their minds off the sound as they started performing "Die Anywhere Else". It didn`t take long for their thoughts to get lost to the music.

 **Elsewhere in the woods:**

 _ **Earl narrating:**_ "I don`t know how long it had been since we started walking and searching for civilization, but morale in the group was already starting to run low as the sun rose higher in the sky. Between Joy getting hit in the head with some tree branches she didn`t see and Catalina scrapping her elbow, all the stress and exhaustion was getting to everyone."

 _ **Scene shown:**_ _The story cuts from Mae`s group playing to Earl`s as he slowly walks in the woods with Catalina and Joy. The trio look exhausted already and seem to look around helplessly. Joy then hits a tree branch and stumbles back rubbing her jaw and looking annoyed. As Earl glances back, he slips on some leaves and lands on his rear._

 **Earl narrating:** "But like the greatest explorers in history, the three of us weren`t planning on giving up so soon. Far as we knew, our destination could be a few yards away without us realizing it yet."

 **Scene shown:** _Catalina walks over and helps pull Earl up. As she does, Joy glances ahead and looks excited the moment she catches a glimpse of what looks like a water tower amid the tall trees._

"Earl! Catalina! I think we found civilization! We`re saved!", Joy cheered, forgetting her earlier concerns about not speaking too loud to avoid unwanted attention. "Well I`ll be…", Earl exclaimed looking at the tower as if it were the best thing he`d ever seen in his life while Catalina nearly jumped up and down in giddy excitement. The mere sight of society brought a huge amount of worry off the trios minds as Earl lead the way towards it.

As the three stepped out of the woods and into a small rocky clearing, they discovered that there was a cliff between them and the field where the water tower was located, with the cliff looking like it was a bit of a way down.

Earl bent over to catch his breath while Joy exclaimed, "Well, we definitely found a water supply source. Maybe we can scale this tiny mountain side and get to that tower. Along with somethin` to drink we could get a good view of the area", before peering down to estimate how long it would take to scale down the cliff side.

"I don`t know Joy, it sounds kinda irrational", Earl said as he recovered enough to walk over to Joy and also look down the cliff. The sharp fragments and the height the trio were at above the ground below was enough to make his stomach turn in fear. "What, you chicken Earl? I`ve seen Darnell scale many dangerous slopes when we went out in Camden`s forest on that camping trip one time. If he can do it, so could a man like you", Joy exclaimed.

Before Earl could retort, a call from Catalina (who had walked off into another area of the forest) got the duo`s attention. "I found something! You have to come and see for yourself!", she shouted through the trees, prompting Earl and Joy to approach the voice wondering what all her excitement was about. As the duo walked back into the forest they noticed a makeshift path amid the trees, signifying that many other people before them had walked by here countless times.

When the duo reached Catalina, they found her standing by a tree. "Look at this, arrows. Someone was here doing target practice", she told them pointing to the dozen arrows sticking into the tree. Crouching down to examine them for a moment, Earl let out a low whistle and said, "Whoever did this was a good shot, that I can say", "That`s not all I found. Look down there", Catalina added stepping aside while pointing to something a bit further down the path.

For a moment, Joy and Earl didn`t notice what Catalina was referring to until they saw what looked like a tarp covered in a lot of leaves. The trio then started to approached it and quickly noticed that it was a makeshift shelter. "Hello?", Earl called out, making Joy slap him in the shoulder for possibly giving them away to someone dangerous. However, when nobody responded the small group walked more confidently up to the shelter and saw that no one was there.

"Think this place belongs to that person who fired those arrows?", Joy asked as she and her companions looked over the shelter and noted the sturdy detail. "Don`t know. It looks like nobodies been up here for a while. I think it`s abandoned", Earl answered, noticing there was nothing around the shelter area that said someone was living here.

Before the trio could say or do anything else, they heard someone walking in the distance followed by the sound of a cup breaking. Leading the way this time, Catalina cautiously approached the source of the sound without trying to expose herself. If that was the shelters occupant, he or she could have been angry to notice strangers poking around their home and could be armed with their bow and arrows.

Peering out from a set of thick shrubs, the three humans nearly stumbled back in surprise when they saw what looked like an anthro female bird holding a newspaper while picking up pieces of a broken cup she dropped earlier.

"Earl, am I going crazy or is that a human-bird creature?", Joy loudly whispered as the being in front of her walked over to an outdoor trashcan close by and discarded the pieces. "I don`t think it`s human. I think it`s all bird that is acting like a human", Earl could only say as he continued to watch the creature, not taking his eyes off it for a single second.

Earl, Joy and Catalina observed the avian being approached a nearby statue of what looked like another anthro bird dressed as a pope. Sitting down on the first step of the stairwell next to it, the anthro bird (known by the locals of Possum Springs as Pastor K) unfolded the newspaper she held and sighed with worry as she read the title. Curiously, Earl leaned forward a bit and got a glance of the papers headline: _Town Council votes to cut Church budget._

"Can`t believe what is happening. First those council members shut down my homeless shelter idea and now this. I don`t know why things are going downhill for the town so fast", Pasto K told herself as the three humans ducked down and started talking among themselves.

"Do you think we should go out and talk to her? She doesn`t seem like a danger", Catalina asked before nodding towards the direction of the bird. "Are you crazy? Far as we know, she can transform into a monster that`ll tear you limb from limb. I`ve seen my share of B-movie horror to know not to fall for innocent appearances", Joy replied. "All I know is that the blast didn`t just sent us into the woods here. It probably sent us to another world where anthro birds rule", Earl said, suddenly realizing most of the obvious fact. This made Catalina and Joy stare at him in shock as the reality of their scenario got to them.

"Oh snap. We`re on another dimension? What`s next? A singing cartoon character will appear out of nowhere?", Joy exclaimed on the verge of denial. "I don`t know. But if Randy and Crabman or anyone else from Camden is out there we won`t be making any progress hiding in the bushes. What if one of us steps out and talks to her? Maybe our appearance won`t alarm her or anything", Earl suggested. "Hell no. I say we take the cautious path here and hide in the woods until nightfall. Maybe in the cover of dark we can get some food and an abandoned and better place to stay till we figure out how to get back to our own world…whatever is left of it that is", Joy retorted.

"Both of you settle down. Fighting won`t help us now", Catalina said when she saw an argument about to go off between her two allies. "Then why don`t you be the tie breaker decider person or whatever? Should we do the smart thing and stay unseen or do the stupid thing and get one of us killed by stepping out to that monsters field of vision", Joy replied with sass. Catalina glanced nervously as Joy, Earl and Pastor K with a lot of uncertainty on her face.

 **Earl narrating:** "Even though she started out siding on my idea more, Catalina now felt that both plans she heard from me and Joy had their pros and cons and that whoever she decided to back up would be a big decision. However, another unexpected arrival stopped her train of thought and made her survival instincts kick in instead."

 **Scene shown:** _Catalina bites her lip nervously as she has a hard time deciding which persons plan she`ll chose to back up. Suddenly, she notices something moving through the trees towards the group and her eyes widen in alarm upon noticing that it`s a drone._

"Hide", Catalina exclaimed grabbing Joy and Earl by the collars of their shirts before pulling them into shrub. Less than five seconds after the trio took cover, the drone went past their hiding place failing to detect them. However, it noticed Pastor K and immediately went towards her.

As Pastor K continued reading the article about the pulled church funds feeling more saddened at each word, she heard a strange noise and looked up. The second she spotted the drone, she let out a cry of fear from its menacing appearance and got up, sprinting for the nearby church. However, another type of drone lowered from the sky, blocking her way in every direction with its quick timing and movement.

While the regular drones were big, had arms and technically a head this new drone was the familiar hovering kind, only with some more menacing modifications. Pastor K noted that the device was filming her with an odd camera before the regular drone went up from behind and hit her in the head, making her hit the ground. Before she could get up, an ice blast froze her and she levitated into the sky, vanishing without a trace.

From their cover under the shrub Earl, Joy and Catalina watched the whole event in horror. "No. Those things followed us to this world. What the hell is going on?", Joy exclaimed in a loud whisper. Even though neither drone heard her, it seemed as if something in the universe decided to answer her question, as a transmission from the unknown reached the devices.

"Come in all drones. Reply", a voice from the systems said. The two drones let out a series of beeps, which seemed to be a verification that they replied. After a moment, the voice returned and said, "Good. Looks like the army is in place for this dimension. Now listen up, I am sending all of you these special data codes that will help you carry out your mission. Find two able bodied fighters from this place and bring them to me on the ship. Your new hover drones here will help film the possible candidates and attack all the rejects like that bird. Now get into position for the grand ambush. All of you are near your designated towns so it won`t take long to start".

As the signal ended and the two drones hovered back into the forest, Earl and Catalina glanced at each other confused while Joy looked shocked. "That voice…I heard it before from that Golden drone in the trailer park. The one that me and Darnell fought", she told her allies.

Once the coast was clear, the trio climbed out from under the bush and looked around nervously. As they did, Catalina asked, "What was that person talking about even? Two fighters? A ship?", "I don`t know, but I have a strong feeling that the grand ambush will be a repeat of what happened to Camden. We need to find that nearby town and warn everybody", Earl exclaimed.

"Have you been taking crazy pills? We can`t walk into a town full of anthro birds", Joy exclaimed. "Well, we can`t just stand here doing nothing. We need to warn everyone about the attacks before they get overwhelmed like Camden. And on the plus side, the three of us could find some allies to help us out along the way afterwards", Earl stated. "Sorry Joy, but I`m siding with Earl. There is no way I`m going to be fending off a bunch of attackers while cornered in a room again", Catalina added.

Joy looked ready to argue but let out a frustrated sigh. "Son of a bitch. Alright, lead the way to town", she exclaimed. As Earl and Catalina headed for the church (which had a paved path leading the way to said town), Joy brought up the rear muttering, "Better not get us killed in the progress. That`d be a real shame there".


	26. Night in the Woods- Part 3

For the four friends back at the Party Barn, band practice was turning out to be a good experience for the morning. Angus sang well as always, Beas fingers pressed plenty of keys on her laptop and got a lot of drum notes on cue and Gregg did a few crazy poses while he played as if he really were a rock star facing a screaming crowd of fans. The standout amid the group was Mae however. As she played through all the songs on her guitar, her friends noted that the feline improved significantly since she came home from college, hitting every note perfectly.

"You really played it like a pro Mae!", Gregg cheerfully commented after the four finished performing their fifth song, the notoriously hard "Pumpkin Head Guy", without missing a beat. "What can I say? I learned the songs during my free time. I really am the best musician ever!", Mae boasted while doing a rock and roll sign for a moment. "Don`t let your ego inflate. We all did fantastic", Bea couldn`t help but slightly tease before Angus spoke up.

"You know, it feels like we played enough for one morning. Since we don`t have any work or other plans today, I was thinking that the four of us could head out of town a bit to the Donut Wolf and have a sweet bite to eat. My personal treat", he stated. "That sounds nice. Didn`t have dessert for a while", Bea said closing her laptop. "Yes! The Donut Wolf! Ride the chariot! Awooooo!", Mae cheered to the donut stores logo, excited to hear she was going to one of her favorite places in the world.

Before anyone could walk off the stage for the exit, Gregg suddenly called out urgently. "Wait, wait, wait! You three forgot something. I didn`t get to tell all of you my big surprise", he said. "Oh, I almost forgot about it. What`s the big news you want to share bug?", Angus asked.

Pulling out some papers from his leather jacket pocket, Gregg approached everyone and handed them a single page each. Mae looked down at a sheet of notes and exclaimed, "What is this?", "It`s a song I wrote last night. I figured I`d announce the surprise through a performance, curtesy of our amazing music skills", Gregg said excitedly before strumming his bass.

Bea just starred at her own music sheet with annoyance and said, "Your kidding, right? It would be easier if you just told the surprise up front. Save us a lot of time and dignity", "Plus, we don`t know this song. How do you expect us to perform it correctly so soon?", Mae added.

"C`mon Mae and Bea. It`s just one more little performance and it's an easy song to memorize. I`m sure we all have enough energy left in us to make it to the end! Besides, I`m doing this for Angus, since the surprise involves him", Gregg pleaded as Angus looked a bit surprised for the reasoning behind an extra performance, though he didn`t say anything else.

Sighing as the reason convinced her, Bea reopened her laptop and said, "Fine. I`ll do it for you and Angus just this once. Better be a good surprise", "Wait, what about the Donut Wolf? This isn`t one of the songs that will take forever to play, will it?", Mae asked. "Trust me. It won`t Mae. We`ll be out for donuts in good spirits in no time", Gregg replied, making her feel relieved.

Mae then looked at her sheet again for a few moments before setting it down on the ground next to her. Knowing she got a good view of all the notes which would help her performance, Mae started feeling she`d get the chance to give another rocking performance and did a few practice strums with her instrument.

Angus and Bea also kept their newly assigned notes and lyrics close to them and warmed up a little, feeling they could perform everything good enough on the first try (with Angus noting that the last lines to his song were erased, a small footnote to the side telling him that his man would shout the ending words himself).

After a few more moments, Gregg asked if everyone was ready. After he got three "yeses", the fox let out an excited cry and got started playing his newly written song: "Who Am I?", kicking off with the first notes. Mae took a deep breath before she joined in on the surprise revealing performance alongside Bea and Angus.

 **Mini-game #7 : "Who Am I?"**

 _ **Objective: As Mae, the player has to hit the notes that are presented when they pass by onscreen at a certain point (sort of like the Guitar Hero like section that happens during the original game). While it`s not mandatory to progress in the story, getting a perfect score is the goal here.**_

 _ **Controls:**_

 _ **-Triangle, Square, Circle and X button: Hit when note appears at the right time**_

 _ **Advice:**_

 _ **-This is probably one of the easiest mini games in the story, as failing everything won`t even get a game over (thought it will affect some dialogue at the end of the song performance). Still, try doing your best to hit as many notes possible.**_

 _Lyrics to Greggs song:_

 _(1_ _st_ _verse)_

 _I may be a fox living in an uninteresting town._

 _But I guarantee it rarely ever brings me down._

 _Whatever I do, my love, I know I wanna be with you._

 _(Gregg rulez, (echoed three times))_

 _So what do you say we go out and find ourselves?_

 _Who am I? Who are you? Who am I?_

 _I just wanna leave the familiar streets and find myself._

 _Who am I?_

 _Please, please, please, why can`t life let me be me?_

 _It`s too short. So why hold back?_

 _(2_ _nd_ _verse)_

 _Sometimes fate works in strange ways._

 _You don`t know if it`ll appear in minutes or days._

 _Whenever I dream of leaving this place I always wondered if I`d possibly die alone._

 _Well that news changed last night when I picked up the phone._

 _(Gregg rulez (echoed three times))_

 _So what do you say we go out and find ourselves?_

 _Who am I? Who are you? Who am I?_

 _I just wanna leave the familiar streets and find myself._

 _Who am I?_

 _Please, please, please, why can`t life let me be me?_

 _It`s too short. So why hold back?_

 _(Mae`s guitar solo followed by last verse)_

 _Who am I? Who am I? Who am I?_

 _The good news is I know this place isn`t where I`ll die. Bet you wonder how I know why._

 _Luck seemed to find me when I was awake last night._

 _Angus, after all our hard struggles things will finally be alright…_

 **(Authors note: For a little trivia, I totally improvised this song)**

After the mini-game ends:

After Mae tried to hit the last note on her sheet, Gregg suddenly flung his bass aside without warning and exclaimed with exciting flailing arms to his boyfriend, "Because you and I are moving to Bright Harbor!", before running up and excitedly giving Angus a hug.

All of Greggs bandmates, especially Angus, could only stare in shock as they heard the news. Bright Harbor was a big sea side town that Gregg and Angus both planned on moving to for better opportunities in life. During his hangouts with Mae, Gregg would bring it up occasionally and share wild tales of living in a fancy high rise apartment next to a Donut Wolf, his own dreams since his youth come true.

However, the cost of living there wasn`t cheap, meaning the couple had to work hard and save a lot of cash before they could consider even getting a low rent apartment. The wages at the Snack Falcon and the video store were good, but earning a high enough amount to officially live in their dream place seemed near impossible. Near impossible until Gregg`s apparent announcement that is.

"Gregg. Bug. How?", Angus could only ask as Gregg ended the hug and nearly jumped up and down in excitement. "I got a call from this guy yesterday on the phone from Bright Harbor. He offered us a place to stay that we can afford with our savings!", he answered.

After a moment of thought, Bea called out to Gregg and got his attention. "The guy who called you; by chance he had an unlisted number?", she asked. "Wait, why is that important? When I talked to the person, he offered me a deal on this ocean side apartment and said he represented an official company. He also said he`d call back tonight to potentially finalize a purchase", Gregg answered. "You didn`t give him any important numbers or personal information, did you?", Angus asked, suddenly nervous. "No, not during the last call…why are you worried Captain?", Gregg replied looking confused.

Bea nearly face palmed herself over the idiocy Gregg had displayed while Angus took him to the side to have a small private talk with. Mae approached the alligator and exclaimed, "What the heck just happened?", "Gregg fell for an obvious telephone scam. You know those shady people who run questionable services? I`m guessing that the apartment retailer was just a con artist trying to rob him", Bea replied. "What? No way", Mae could only exclaim in disbelief. "Sadly, that`s probably the case. Trust me, I ended up learning a lot about shady offers over the phone and other media after my mom was…", Bea began before stopping. Understanding, Mae gave a nod and looked at Gregg to see how he was taking the same info she got.

The look on the fox's face was completely depressed once Angus finished explaining the facts to him. "No. Why? I thought our dreams were finally coming true when I got that call yesterday", he exclaimed, making Angus comfort him with his own hug. "They still can. Don`t take it so hard", he said gently. As Gregg gave a sad sniff, Angus then broke off the hug and said, "Why don`t we go out and get those donuts? I`ll even buy you a tall frozen coffee. I know you sometimes like one when you eat a lot and need something to wash all that sugar down", "Okay", Gregg replied, lightening up slightly but still looking down. He glanced at Mae and Bea and gave them a nod, with the duo returning one.

The four friends got off the stage trying to shake the negative feelings off them and started to head for the exit, hoping that the rest of the day would carry out on a more positive note. Those hopes ended unexpectedly the second they heard a lot of screaming taking place outside followed by what sounded like a heavy attack.

Stopping and listening while as alarmed as his companions, Gregg exclaimed, "What the eff is that?", "Don`t know. It sounds like a full scale riot", Bea replied apprehensively while Mae nervously hugged her.

Angus, who was paralyzed with fear from the horror of the noises, recovered a bit as Gregg started to slowly move towards the door again. "What are you doing? Get back here. If it`s a riot you could get hurt", he told his boyfriend urgently. "I`m just going to take a peek outside to see what`s happening. I`ll be careful", Gregg replied before reaching for the door handle. Suddenly, he noticed a shadow appear through the doors crack and got the feeling that someone was about to barge in. "Everyone, get back!", he shouted in panic.

 **Prompt:** **circle button**

 **Hit in time:** Having his instincts kick in at the nick of time, Gregg bolted from the door before it flung open in his face. He then ran back onto the stage out of panic, finally stopping when he ended up tripping and hitting the ground face first.

 **Failed to press:** However, before Gregg could move away from the door it got barged open with a lot of force. The fox found himself get hit so hard by the swing that it sent him flying in the air back towards the stage, where he landed on one of the speakers set up prior to practice before rolling onto the floor. **(Health: -10%)**

"Gregg!", Angus and Mae yelled in horror as they sprinted towards their friend along with Bea. Quickly, Gregg got up, stretched a bit and moaned, "I`m okay", before looking towards door. The second he got a good look at what burst in, his eyes widened in shock. "What the eff is that?!", he exclaimed, prompting his friends to stop next to the stage and look behind them.

The minute the four saw the electric drone that attacked Gregg, a sense of shock and confusion overcame everyone. "Is this all part of some crazy publicity stunt for a movie? It has to be!", Mae exclaimed as the drone aimed at her. "I don`t think any publicity stunt would go that far considering Gregg…Mae! Look out!", Angus began before spotting the incoming attack. Mae looked just in time to see a ball of electricity shoot at her while Bea and Angus dove out of the way from the projectile zone.

 **Prompt:** **X button**

 **Hit in time:** Following her friends, Mae also managed to evade the blast just in time. The ball whizzed by her (making her fur stand on end a bit) and hit the side of the stage, sending some pieces of debris from it in the air upon impact (and making Gregg stumble back as he tried to get off the stage to get to Angus). "That was cool!...What?", Mae exclaimed getting up before noticing the odd looks her friends gave her.

 **Failed to press:** Before Mae could do what Angus and Bea did, she felt the electric ball hit and send her stumbling back into the side of the stage, twitching all the way with sparks coming from her (along with her skeleton being shown for a few brief flashes as the currents went through her). "Mae! You alright!?", Gregg exclaimed running up to her as she stood up herself. "Never better. Besides, I`ve been zapped before", Mae exclaimed, getting an odd look from her friends regarding the last statement. **(Mae: -10% health)**

The electric drone suddenly moved into the Party Barn to launch a closer range of attacks, getting everyone's full attention again before they tried to maneuver around it to get to the entrance. The goal became harder than it sounded when to a sudden surge in its precision made the drone veer left and right quicker, sending everyone running back towards the stage to avoid an attack before going for the exit again.

Angus, who managed to get to the doorway first after dodging a few shots, was blocked by a hovering drone that suddenly came down from the sky. Like Pastor K, he noticed that he was being filmed before seeing the electric drone move in from behind to hit him, curtesy of the reflection.

 **Prompt:** **Square button**

 **Hit in time:** Unlike Pastor K though, Angus managed to step aside just in time. Instead of hitting him, the electric drone accidently hit its flying ally, smashing its camera. "Way to go Captain!", Gregg cheered upon seeing this, making Angus feel almost proud as he backed away from the drones.

 **Failed to press:** Before Angus could move, the electric drone managed to club Angus and knock him flat on his back. Before the drone could hit him again while he was down, a gator lawn gnome and a guitar thrown by Gregg and Mae flew through the air and hit both foes (with the hovering drone getting its camera smashed in the progress). Angus took advantage of his attacker's distraction and quickly crawled out of the way, saying he was okay when Gregg called out to him. **(Angus: -10% health)**

Apparently, the damage the hovering drone took started to make it act funny. As the electric drone continued to fire at the four and missed, its accomplice flew in the air erratically. It bounced off a wall, a banner and the floor like a cartoony boomerang before going directly for Bea as she tried to take cover behind the speakers on the stage. The alligator glanced up in time to see what was coming towards her.

 **Prompt:** **Triangle button**

 **Hit in time:** Luckily, Bea managed to duck and the drone flew past her, hitting the wall closest to her and getting destroyed on impact. Quickly, the alligator stood up and moved away from the wreckage, feeling less safe about her cover spot.

 **Failed to press:** Before Bea could duck, the drone hit her head and bounced off it. As Bea hit the ground in pain, the malfunctioning hover drone hit the ceiling and got destroyed by the impact. "Bea!", Mae called as she evaded a blast, seeing what happened to her friend. To her relief, Bea got up rubbing her head and stumbled away from her cover spot, feeling it would no longer be safe enough. **(Bea: -10% health)**

Bea jumped off the stage and ran to her friends as two ice drones and another hovering drone (which also had a cracked camera) arrived in the Party Barn, getting a signal for help from its electric comrade. "Crap! How are we going to dodge all of them and get out now? We can`t keep moving forever in a tight space!", Angus exclaimed ducking to avoid an ice blast.

Quickly spotting and picking up a nearby pipe that lay on the ground, Mae held it like a baseball bat and declared, "We have to destroy these things to win! It`s the only way!", "Seriously? You think we have a chance against whatever those things are!?", Bea exclaimed, noting how advance her foes were and worrying about the odds of actually winning.

"I`m up for it! Even if we die, it`ll sure be a way to go", Gregg declared pulling out a knife from his jacket and nodding to Angus, who looked reluctant but quickly agreed to join in on the fight. Feeling it was better than to just stand in place and be killed, Bea ended up giving a reluctant nod as well before the four charged at their enemies, intending to fend off the foes.

 **Fight 4-1:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Mae**

 **-Bea**

 **-Gregg**

 **-Angus**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-2 Freeze Drones**

 **-1 Electric Drone**

 **-1 Hovering Drone**

After the fight: As soon as all the enemies were defeated, the four looked down on their fallen foes in disbelief. After a few moments of silence, Bea broke it by exclaiming, "What the heck just happened? Seriously, what we did feels like a strange dream rather than reality", "I`ll tell you what we did, we fought a powerful foe and won! Hooray for us!", Mae exclaimed, though her enthusiasm didn`t make anyone else feel less uneasy.

Angus walked up to the electric drone and examined it more closely. "This is unbelievable", he said, though it was not clear if he was talking to himself or his friends. Gregg nonetheless asked his boyfriend exactly what was it was he found strange about the killer robots. Other than the fact that there were killer robots inside the Party Barn.

"It seems like these devices are years ahead of even the most advance software and hardware companies ever. See?", Angus said pointing to some exposed inner machinery on one of the drones that was ripped open a bit during the fight. Even though nobody understood hardware or software as good as Angus, they did know that he was right since the material looked like it was out of a futuristic sci-fi novel. The structures, the framing, the wiring, everything in a robot looked like it was built beyond perfection.

After asking Gregg if he could borrow his knife, Angus started to remove some bits and pieces carefully from the drone. "If we get the chance, I think we can study them and understand how they work exactly", he explained before asking Bea if he could borrow her laptop carrier. Quickly, Bea got it from the stage and helped Angus put the pieces in it while Gregg and Mae watched the whole process with awe. Just as the bag was full, a sudden loud explosion got the groups attention to the chaos outside again. Leading the way, Mae ran out to see what was going on with her friends following her.

Stopping a few feet from the front door, the four friends couldn`t believe their eyes when they got a good look at the main source of the sounds. What they were seeing was a wide scale invasion of more metallic foes, similar to the group they faced. Citizens of Possum Springs were attempting to flee as they were stunned and/or frozen, all while the hovering drones seemed to film each victim before they went up into the sky and vanished. The once peaceful and clean area also looked trashed, with a few buildings smoking and several cars flipped over, blocking the road.

Bea suddenly saw another female alligator get captured in the distance, all while screaming for her father. "Oh no. Dad! He`s alone in his apartment", Bea exclaimed, suddenly realizing her father was still home alone by himself, probably unable to defend himself if too many drones came to his home.

The talk of Mr. Santello in possible danger all alone suddenly made Mae look equally alarmed. "My mom and Dad! They`re still out there to! We have to go find them!", "How? It looks like there are too many drones for us to take head on", Angus exclaimed. "I`m willing to test my luck", Gregg exclaimed starting to walk forward, only for Angus to pull him back. "No. We can get to Mr. Santello and the Borowskis safe and fast without running directly down the block", "How exactly? I`m not going to just stand here and let someone else in my family get taken from me", Bea replied with Mae nodding along. Before she and Mae could run off, the group noticed several drones up ahead were turning and about to spot them.

Quickly, Mae sprinted to the side of the Party Barn and ducked behind the corner after signaling her friends to follow, leaving them unseen by the enemy as they hovered away elsewhere. After a few moments, Angus peered out to see if any foes were coming their way and sighed with relief when none did. However, this didn`t make anyone feel more secure as they pondered what to do next, with the girls looking more desperate by the minute.

"Maybe we can lure four of those things over here, beat them up and dress up like them to get past their allies. We could get to Bea and Mae`s family members in no time", Gregg said. "This isn`t a cartoon Gregg. Try to take this seriously. How do we get to my father with all that chaos in between us?", Bea replied bitterly to him. "No need to be hostile with me. The fact that someone here along with his loved one wants to help you should be something to consider", Gregg replied, making Bea glare at him even more.

As the hostility between Gregg and Bea grew with Angus trying to settle things down, Mae looked around for anything else that would be helpful before she took a peek at the street again. For some reason, she noted how low all the hovering drones were from the ground and then found her eyes gazing up at the power lines. Quickly looking around, Mae then spotted a nearby wooden power line base and an excited and mischievous look appeared on her face.

"Hey guys, I have a plan on how to get to me and Bea`s homes. Let's just say it involves crimes", the feline said, stopping all the talk going on between her companions. "Crimes?", Gregg asked excitedly while Bea and Angus looked baffled. "Crimes", Mae replied confidently.


	27. Night in the Woods- Part 4

As the attack of Possum Springs continued behind them, Earl, Joy and Catalina found themselves running back into another part of the forest by some railroad tracks. Glancing behind her and seeing that nobody was following them, Catalina told her companions it was safe to stop fleeing for their lives again. Right away, the group stopped sprinting and heavily panted from the exhaustion they felt.

As soon as she could find her strength again, Joy slapped Earl upside the head. "Ow! What the hell was that for!?", Earl exclaimed. "You and your accomplice's dumb idea (which I knew was a bad one from the very start I should add). That`s what that slap was for", Joy replied glaring with hostility towards her ex-husband and Catalina. Before they could reply, she then continued her rant while wiping spicy green pierogi sauce from her face. "If going into town to warn everybody directly about the attack was what you considered smart, maybe you two should really have kept in mind that they might`ve never saw the likes of us before, let alone that we`re not in a world with just anthro birds. We probably beat the drones to the punch in making that town go into full panic mode".

 **Earl narrating:** "Unfortunately, Joy was right. Running straight into the town to warn everybody about the upcoming attack really did cause a scare with the inhabitants".

 **Scene shown:** _The scene cuts from a still of Earl and Catalina looking perplexed at Joy to the start of a flashback at Possum Springs before the drone attack._

 _ **Flashback (about 15 minutes ago)**_

Outside the entrance to the Trolley Tunnel, the town council of Possum Springs (made up of a red bird, a fox, an alligator and a bear) emerged chatting about some local financial issues with the fox holding a paper plate full of spicy pierogi in green jalapeño sauce. As the red bird commented to the fox that eating spicy food probably wouldn`t be good for her digestive system in the long run, the four suddenly heard loud shouts above them along with everyone else close by.

When the council and residents of Possum Springs looked and saw three unknown creatures running down the stairway path from the church shouting that the place was in danger and everyone's lives were at risk while gesturing madly, everyone immediately began to panic at the mere sight of them. Most of the townsfolk started to flee screaming while a few, including the fox, started to thrown whatever they could nearby at the creatures in order to keep them back once they got to the bottom of the steps. "Demon! Stay back!", the anthro fox screamed as she flung one of her pierogi at Catalina, only to wind up missing and hitting Joy right in the eye instead.

As Joy screamed in pain with Catalina trying to help by wiping some of the sauce off her face, Earl shouted in panic to the town council, "What are you doing?! You`re town is in real danger from invaders! We`re here to help! Just…just listen to me!", while ducking to evade a flowerpot thrown by an anthro possum. However, Earls words were lost as the fox kept throwing her food at the strange creatures in front of her to keep at bay while her co-workers all started to flee, feeling threatened that one of the creatures was focusing solely on them.

Out of nowhere, an icy blast from the Trolley Tunnel hit the fox before she could fling her last pierogi at Earl, freezing her entirely. "Oh no!", Catalina shouted as she and Earl witnessed more drones emerge out of the tunnel and between the buildings before they started attacking and capturing the already panicked citizens. "Oh no what? What`s happening!? I can`t see!", Joy yelled nearly falling down as she stumbled in one random direction a bit.

After observing the chaos for one more second and feeling a flashback from Camden, Earl told the women urgently that it was time that they retreated back to the woods. As the trio ran back up the steps towards the church with Catalina guiding Joy, they barely evaded several blasts from the freeze and electric drones. Thankfully, no machines followed them during their escape (or so it seemed).

 **Earl narrating:** "Turns out that while Richard, Liz and Daisy`s plan in their own animal world they went to wasn`t perfect, they at least had the smart idea of trying not exposing themselves to any inhabitants too early without knowing what they were possibly dealing with. Yet despite the way the residents of Possum Springs acted, I still felt sorry they ended up experiencing what we did."

 **Scene shown:** _The flashback comes to an end and the story cuts back to the present with the trio at the railroad tracks again._

As Joy wiped the last bit of pierogi sauce off her face and took a quick lick to see how good it really was, Catalina looked back in the direction of the town and noticed that the attack was still going on. "What do we do now? I was hoping we could find someone who could fight alongside us when some more of those metal basterdos show up", she said. "We did well on our own so far. If you`re thinking of actually going back there again to try and find help from those literal animals after the way we were treated, forget it", Joy replied.

"Joy, Catalina is right about needing someone to help us out. A group of three can only get so far on an invasion of this magnitude. Besides, we did spook the animals ourselves. Maybe if we tried a different approach, things could go our way", Earl stated. "You`re not focusing on the point. You saw how quick those drones took everyone in Camden out. If we try going back to that town to somehow find an ally everyone will probably be frozen and gone. Personally, if we need help I say we find Darnell and Randy if they`re here with us. Knowing my husband, he`d probably stay away from crowded areas meaning that he`d less likely to get spotted by someone or something dangerous", "But how exactly do we find him and Randy is wherever we are (let alone if they`re in this world)? Look at this place. We were completely lost and had enough trouble getting around without any drones earlier. We also might not have enough time if the drones start searching this area", Catalina countered while gesturing to the forest around her.

 **Earl narrating: "** While Catalina and Joy began to argue about what the best way was to finding someone who could help us, I began pacing around trying to clear my head. At this point me and my friends were stranded in an anthro animal world with Darnell and Randy gone and the fate of our own world unknown. I was honestly starting to give into the despair of everything that was happening today. It was at that moment I noticed we were being watched."

 **Scene shown:** _As Catalina and Joy begin to argue behind him, Earl is seen walking around the tracks lost in thought. Near the end of the narration, Earl then looks up and sees someone in a nearby bush watching him intensely, making him stumble back in surprise._

"Earl?", Catalina exclaimed seeing her friend react as if he spotted a ghost, forgetting her feud with Joy. Joy, also forgetting everything for the moment, looked ahead and also saw the mystery being spying on them. "If you know what`s good for you, you`d best step out here now and face us! Otherwise I`ll drag you out there myself you spying creep!", she immediately threatened as Earl came back to the women.

"Joy, what are you doing? If that's a drone or something dangerous related to a drone…", Earl began before Catalina suddenly shushed him, gesturing at the bush as whoever was there started to move (though whether it was due to Joys threat or not, it was hard to tell).

To the human's surprise, what they saw emerge was an anthro mouse that looked to be in her teens. Rather than an expression of fear or hostility, there was a look of wonder in her eyes. It was as if she were seeing the greatest thing in all of existence.

"Real monsters…just like in all the horror movies…", she said in awe stopping less than ten feet from the trio to look at them closely; soaking up every detail from their faces to their attire. After a few moments of awkward silence, Earl cleared his throat and said, "Um, hello? Listen, if you`re wondering what`s going on with that town close by, we were trying to warn everyone about…", "Zip it Earl. We don`t know who she really is. Could be a deadly assassin posing as a cute critter for all we know", Joy curtly whispered, cutting off Earls talking.

Taking over the conversation, Joy asked the mouse who she was. This caused her to suddenly inhale and exhale quickly in a hyperventilating tone, making Joy look startled. "Way to go Joy. Now you`ve scared her", Catalina exclaimed. "No…no...one of you said hi to me and another tried to greet me. I was greeted by real monsters, just like in the dreams where I turned into one", the mouse replied happily before she got her excitement mostly under control. After a moment to get her other emotions in check as well, the mouse properly introduced herself. "My name is Lori M. I live close by Possum Springs", she said while pointing in the direction of the town. "Hi Lori M. My name is Earl and this is my friend Catalina and my other friend Joy. We`re from another world, probably", Earl replied as Catalina gave an awkward wave, being already a tad creeped out by the mouse's odd mannerisms.

"Wow, another world. This is so cool. Did you teleport here by the sheer power of your will or something?", Lori M. asked. "You know, you are asking a lot of questions", Joy said accusingly. "And you must be the mean one of the group. Or does your attitude sum up how you all truly act?", Lori M. countered, making Earl look impressed a bit by the comeback. "Oh, don`t mind Joy, she`s just being a payaso", Catalina said, making Joy give her a death glare for a second. At that point, Catalina began to ask some questions in a friendlier tone.

"What are you doing out here by the train tracks by yourself? Did you flee out here from the attackers like we did?", Catalina asked as she glanced behind her again and noted the smoke that started to billow up into the sky. "Wait a minute, the town is under attack? I just left it an hour ago to crush some metallic toy soldiers and reflect my own thoughts", Lori M. exclaimed staring at the smoke while pulling out what looked to be a tiny metallic figurine of an anthro fox solider, squished flat and barely identifiable.

"Unfortunately, it is being attacked just like our own world. These…things just came out of nowhere and started to freeze everyone they could find", Earl replied with dread as the mouse tossed the flattened toy fox aside. He expected Lori M. to reply with grief or worry, but to his surprise, Lori M. said in a regular tone, "That`s strange. Almost reminds me of this thing I spray painted on the town mural once that involved the destruction of Possum Springs. In a way, it seems that I predicted the future. Wonder what Killer would have said to that if I told her".

Catalina`s eyes widened at the last statement. "Wait, Killer? You know someone by that name? Is he a…professional fighter or something?", "Well, she is good with a bat and athletic, considering she can leap from the ground to the top of a building with ease. Knowing her, I feel she already got out of town without any problem", Lori M replied, though her voice did give a small hint of worry.

Seeing the same look Earl had on his face before he suggested that the trio go into the town directly, Joy excused herself for a moment and brought Earl aside by the tracks to talk to him in private. While she did, Catalina and Lori M began to talk to each other, both interested to find out as much as they could about the strange being from another land in front of them.

"Earl, if you suggest we go and try to find Killer I say you drop the idea. We don`t know if she`ll go after us like the townsfolk. Far as I`m concerned I might have a durian thrown at my face by her if we get too close to top my spicy dumpling hit", Joy immediately told Earl. "The second time we try the plan can turn out differently. If Lori M. trusts this Killer person or animal and we show her that we can be friendly, maybe she`ll help us fight off any threats and help find Randy and Crabman. And besides, the first plan to find help in that town wasn`t exactly a bad one. We just didn`t take every aspect into account. We need a better approach", Earl retorted as he glanced over at Lori M. for a moment, getting the impression she wasn`t the type to lead someone astray.

"How do we even know if Lori M. will take us to Killer? She probably fled town once she saw the attacks", Joy stated, making Earl pause to think of a good counterpoint. Before he could say that they would just have to take the risk and hope luck would be on their side, the duo along with Catalina and Lori M. heard what sounded like a bicycle bell.

Glancing at the source of the sound, the four spotted what looked like an old man on a bike pedaling down the train tracks towards them with a lot of energy and excitement. "Oh my God. It`s the same guy I saw earlier at Camden", Earl exclaimed, recalling his previous encounter. "Say what now?", Joy asked without taking her eyes off the random event she was witnessing.

Before the old man on the bike could get to the group, a sudden electric blast was fired out of nowhere, coming close to hitting him. The old man swerved before vanishing in midair, making everyone else turn to look at the source of the attack, completely freaked out (with Catalina starting to hyperventilate and cause Lori M. to try and quickly talk her down from her fears). To their shock, they saw three freeze drones and one electric drone come into view from the trees and shoot at them. "Crap! How did they even find us all the way out here!?", Joy exclaimed as she ducked a blast and frantically looked around for cover.

As the four drones came out into the clearing with their shots almost hitting everyone, Earl shouted for Lori M. to hide. "Take cover while we take care of these things!", "Are you sure you can win a fight with them? They look more advanced than I imagined", Lori M. asked taking a few reluctant steps backwards. "We handled these things before. Just watch and learn", Catalina stated flexing her arms a bit before she sidestepped a few blasts and moved towards the drones, attempting to fight back with all she had. Deciding to give her the benefit of the doubt, Lori M. ended up running back to the bush while Earl and Joy followed Catalina into the scuffle, getting into another fight just like that.

 **Fight 4-2**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Earl**

 **-Joy**

 **-Catalina**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-3 freeze drones**

 **-1 electric drone**

After the fight:

Once the last drone was defeated, Earl nearly collapsed from exhaustion while Joy and Catalina didn`t look like they fared much better. "I could use a whole case of energy drinks at this point", Joy exclaimed as she sat down next to the train tracks while Earl looked like he`d vomit.

Lori M. stepped back out from the bushes once she felt things were safe and noted the human's status`. "I take it you`re not really the long term athletic types, are you?", she half joked while keeping a wary out for more danger. "You could say that the threat of life and death and the stamina that it`s given us has kept everyone going so far", Earl managed to say in between heavy breathes.

After a moment, all three fighters did their best to stand up straight with Earl telling his ex-wife, "Maybe we should go and find Killer right now. Don`t even argue with me. You saw how we barely held out from that last fight. What if another set of drones followed that group we just fought? We`d be screwed and you know it". This made Catalina and Joy look around nervously.

"I still say your idea is stupid, but after encountering drones that can freeze anyone, drones that can zap anyone and old men on bikes that disappear into thin air I`m willing to be anywhere that isn`t here right now. Know the fastest way to civilization Lori?", Joy replied. "Yeah. I know the routes to every street in Possum Springs. I often walk out alone at night sometimes reflecting my favorite scenes from horror movies and things like that", Lori M. replied as she started to lead the way in the direction of the town, being cautious of her surroundings.

"I tell you, that is one weird mouse right there. Even weirder than the one in the _Tom & Jerry_ cartoons", Joy commented to Earl as she looked at the chaos in the town again and noted that it was getting more silent. Less screams and sounds of weapon blasts were being heard and the whole area was starting to get the feel of abandonment. "Let's just hope your precious Killer is still around to come to our aid when we get to her place", Joy then stated, making some worry appear on Earls face.

 **Earl narrating:** "As we followed our new and odd acquaintance to the house where Killer lived, it turns out that Killer and some of her friends were still around in town and were trying to make it to safety without being spotted by the invasion forces through a nonconventional way"

 **Scene shown:** _As Earl narrates, the scene shows Lori M. and the three humans walking and talking to each other and developing a small bond. The story then cuts from the Camden residents to Mae (more specifically her head as her expression seems to look like she`s working on a complex puzzle)._

"See, whatdya know? Crimes do solve some of life's problems", "Technically this isn`t really a crime Mae. I mean it is, but kinda in a way like jaywalking", "Don`t ruin my sense of motivation Gregg. We`re close to Bea`s apartment. I think it`s less than a block away at this point. We`re so close", "As long as I find my father alive and well, I don`t even care that I`m doing this".

As Bea responded to her friend in a slightly below regular tone to avoid being heard, she looked down on the street from the wires she and her friends were walking on and noticed a few drones hover by. Thankfully, the drones didn`t detect anyone above slipping by, though the way everyone's legs kept wobbling (along with the many close calls of nearly going over the edge) made Bea feel like she or one of the three animals in front of her would hit the ground face first at any moment.

"You know Mae, I think I`ve developed a form of respect for you. You make walking these things every day look so easy", Angus said as he watched Mae lead the group while keeping her balance a lot steadier than his. "You, Gregg and Bea all walked on the wires from the Party Barn to Maple Street on your first try. That alone is impressive", Mae replied before noticing a frozen anthro dog hover in the air close by and disappear in midair, creeping her out.

"So Bea, do you think this is more fun than work? Living on the literal edge of danger?", Gregg couldn`t help but ask in a jovial tone, trying not to think of all the ways he could land painfully. "Seriously Gregg, you think this is the time to joke around again?", "What, just trying to lighten the mode. Even on days when invaders from the unknown weren't attacking, you act like the most bitter alligator I`ve ever met", "Can you please try to take what is going on with some actual concern rather than your usual idiocy?". Bea sharply retorted. "Idiocy? I`m street smart and you know it", "Bea. Gregg. Calm down. No need to fight at a time like this. I think I see the apartment", Angus said, glancing ahead and seeing the Santello residence. Bea and Gregg glared at each other again for a moment before also looking at the apartment with relief and excitement.

Unlike some of the buildings in the now mostly empty streets of Possum Springs (not counting the drones), the apartment didn`t look like it was damaged. However, there were some chunks of ice on it which made Bea`s concern rise as she quickened her pace slightly, prompting everyone ahead of her to do the same.

When Mae got to the apartment window below Bea`s room (which wasn`t too far from the ugly statue of Arnold A. Applebaum, an industrial tycoon from the towns dark past), she tried to pull it up only to have no luck. "What`s wrong?", "I think it`s stuck Bea", Mae replied as she kept trying to pull with no progress. Gregg used the window sill to walk around Angus and tried to help Mae open the window, though his efforts didn`t contribute much.

After a few more moments passed, Gregg then punched the window and tried his best to break in. "What are you doing Gregg? With all the noise you`re making, we`ll be spotted", Angus exclaimed looking down nervously. At that point, he realized his warning was too late as every drone below them looked up and started to fire at them upon seeing four targets.

While everyone else wobbled trying to avoid getting hit, Gregg managed to break a big enough hole to reach in and unlock the window from the inside. Quickly, he pulled it up and dived in, shouting for his friends to follow. However, one of the drones from below fired an electric blast that hit a section of the wire behind the group, slicing it.

Mae and Angus found themselves ducking and gripping the wire as they swung down towards the street while Bea dived forward and found herself dangling on the window ledge. As Mae and Angus reached the street and slid down towards the next door building, Gregg grabbed Bea and quickly pulled her in. The second the alligator was safe, the duo leaned out to check on the rest of their party. To their relief, Angus and Mae got up without a scratch on them, though that relief was short lived when the drones down below continued to fire at them.

"Angus! Captain! Look out!", Gregg shouted in panic as he watched his boyfriend sprint off down the street. Glancing back, Angus called out in a desperate tone, "Try to meet us at Mae`s house when the coast is clear! I`ll wait for you there or come back for you depending on what the situation calls for", "I know a good place all of us can hide there!", Mae added. "Okay, after I find my dad the three of us will…Gregg, evade!", Bea yelled seeing several ice drones aim at them from the street.

Quickly, Bea pulled the fox back with her as several icy blasts flew through the air and hit the area around the window, completely freezing it shut. Mae and Angus looked back with dread for a moment before they focused all their attention on the road ahead with a dozen drones still on their tail. As they evaded for the blast, the duo kept running for their lives like never before.


	28. Night in the Woods- Part 5

In the apartment they crawled into, Gregg and Bea got up off the floor and looked at the ice wall that completely coated the window. As Bea reflected how lucky she was to evade in time, Gregg ran up and fruitlessly punched the barrier while calling out for Angus.

"Gregg, we need to move. You`re wasting your time trying to break that", Bea told the fox, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him away from the ice. "But I need to find Angus! You saw how many drones were chasing him and Mae before our way in was closed off. Knowing them, they won`t be able to run far before one or both tires out", Gregg replied, making Bea bite her lip in frustration over the dilemma.

"How about you go after them while I get my father? I`m sure we can catch up to you soon enough", she stated after a moment of thought as she approached the apartments door. As she opened it, Gregg looked around the place and noted that the occupants apparently fled in a hurry, based on how trashed the place already looked. This caused some fear to form in his mind, followed by the sudden thought of him out there all alone and facing a potential army of drones.

As Bea stepped out into the hallway, the duo heard several ominous noises come from the lobby (mainly glass shattering followed by an unfamiliar humming). "Oh crap. Think those machines are here?", Gregg exclaimed as he waved his arms in panic. "On second thought, why don`t you stick with me for safety in numbers? Perhaps the two of us and my dad can work together to find Mae and Angus. And can you please stop doing that with your arms", Bea suggested before running down the hallway towards the nearby stairwell with the fox behind her. As the duo made their way upstairs, all the alligator could think of was what she would find when she entered her home while Gregg tried his best not to think of his boyfriend and Mae`s odds of survival.

Out on the streets, Mae and Angus kept sprinting and evading blasts while trying not to let their exhaustion get to them. Due to the close calls and amount of foes chasing them, they ended up being forced to take a detour rather than run straight down the road. Weaving their way in and around the two nearby blocks, the duo found themselves lucky they didn`t get cornered as they made what felt like the millionth turn with the enemy still close behind.

Glancing back behind her, Mae noted how persistent all the pursuing drones were and let out an, "Eff", upon noticing that she didn`t even shake one off. "What is it Mae?", Angus asked as he took a deep breath, trying to muster enough stamina to run at top speed. "Just focus on running to my house! We`re almost there!", Mae responded, noticing her home in the distance. Nodding, Angus kept running alongside Mae, hoping that they`d catch a lucky break upon reaching the Borowski`s establishment.

 **Mini-game #8: Run For Your Life**

 _ **Objective: As Mae or Angus, the player has to run on a moving 2-D platform from the starting point to the Borowski household. They have to reach the end of the map in order to move on in the story and there are plenty of obstacles in the way that can make it easier said than done for some players.**_

 _ **Controls:**_

 _ **-X button: Jump**_

 _ **-Circle button: Slide**_

 _ **Advice:**_

 _ **-The distance the drones chasing you from the left side of the screen indicate how well you`re doing. The farther they are from you, the better.**_

 _ **-If you hit an obstacle (like stumbling over a pothole or smacking your head against a knocked over telephone pole), the distance the drones are from you gets closer. If you miss to many cues to evade, the drones will catch the player and earn them a game over, forcing them to restart the level. If you manage to run long enough without hitting anything, some more space will be put between the character and the drones.**_

 _After the mini-game is completed:_

When Mae and Angus reached the felines house, the duo glanced behind them and noticed they were out of the drones sight from turning a corner. Quickly, they dove into a bush next to the houses porch and stayed as still as they could. When the drones came, they all stopped and looked around, unable to detect any forms of life to freeze. While most of the drones immediately moved elsewhere, a few lingered around to search the area.

Inside the bush, Mae and Angus panted and tried to regain their breath (with Angus pulling out his inhaler and taking a puff) while they watched their foes from their leafy cover. "That…was intense", Mae exclaimed. "I hope I never experience that again. Thought I saw my life flash before my eyes", Angus could only say.

 _If Mae hit 0%-40% of the notes in the seventh mini-game_ _:_ "At least we did better at running for our lives than I did playing a new song", Mae couldn`t help but joke, prompting Angus to give her a look that said, "Too soon". Mae noticed it and whispered an apology.

 _If Mae hit 41%-70% of the notes in the seventh mini-game:_ "Well, today could have gone better like my band practice performance with Greggs song", Mae stated. "I honestly don`t see your analogy in that statement", Angus replied. Mae looked ready to reply, but decided Angus was right and closed her mind on that thought.

 _If Mae hit 71%-100% of the notes in the seventh mini-game_ _:_ "I must really be rocking it today. First I play a song I never even heard before perfectly and then I manage to evade a cyber-enemy also perfectly", Mae couldn`t help but say. "Please don`t go on an ego trip at a time like this", Angus replied.

Mae`s gaze then shifted to the side of her property and her panic levels returned to the maximum setting when she saw what looked like an aftermath to a chaotic event. A few shells from a pistol were on the ground alongside a police hat and many ice patches. The mystery car was still lodged in Mr. Pendersons house and the scene no longer looked cool. Rather, it now gave an ominous vibe.

"Angus, what happened here?", Mae asked her friend, though she already felt she knew the answer. Looking at the aftermath scene, Angus shivered from the vibes he also picked up and said, "I honestly don`t want to say it out loud. Once the cost is clear, we`ll get inside your house and either recover to pick up Gregg, Bea and her father or wait for them to show up", "Good idea. Hope my mom and dad are in there waiting for us", Mae replied as she glanced towards the porch behind her before turning her attention back towards the drones who were too close to slip by undetected.

While Mae and Angus remained hidden in the front yard of the house, Earl and his party were approaching the fence leading to the back of the property. To their surprise, they had managed to make it to the location without running into any other drones or something equally dangerous.

"You sure this is the house Lori M? Looks fancier than I pictured", Joy exclaimed glancing up at the Borowski residence in a bit of awe. The place looked like Beverly Hills when compared to her trailer at the park, even though the house was a basic suburban home. "Yep, this is the place. I came over here one time to visit Killer after she recovered from her head injury", Lori M. explained. "How did she get a head injury?", Earl asked as he jumped up and tried to scale the fence, a bit startled by the information. "Says she tripped and fell in the woods, though I have a feeling she kept some details to herself. Whenever I ask her what happened recently, she seems deflective", "So wait, is she still in good shape or is she still recovering?", Catalina asked concerned while watching Earls efforts. "She`s fine, though her friends seem to act a bit odd when I talk about it when I`m close by them. You`d think they`d murdered someone like in a slasher film when you see their expressions", Lori M. stated as Earl finally managed to get atop the fence.

"See anyone there Earl?", Joy called. "No, all that`s here is a well-trimmed lawn, a small garden and…wait a second, why does that next door house have a car in the roof?", Earl exclaimed as he glanced at Mr. Pendersons house. The distraction made him lose his balance and hit the ground in the backyard hard enough to be knocked out.

An unknown amount of time passed and Earls blurry vision of Joy, Catalina and Lori M. looking down on him in alarm was the first thing he saw when he opened his eyes. "What…how long was I out cold?", he muttered. "About a minute", Catalina replied before extending her hand. As Earl grabbed it and got boosted up, he noticed an open gate nearby.

Seeing his startled reaction, Lori M. replied nervously, "I forgot to mention the gate here while you climbed over, didn`t I?", "Seriously? How could you forget that fact? Would`ve been nice to tell me before I got to taste dead grass", "Hey, I was under a lot of stress from the attacks and also having some excitement from talking to you guys. My mind tends to forget a few things during times like these. I can`t even recall my top ten favorite horror movies and death scenes at the moment without missing something", Lori M. retorted, trying not to hyperventilate again.

Seeing he was stressing her out, Earl apologized and suggested the group go to the house and find Killer. "Best we go in through the back. While Catalina and Lori M. were debating if you became a corpse or not, I got a glance at the street from the side of the house and saw a bunch of those tin heads hovering by. It`d be suicide trying to take the front door", Joy stated gesturing towards the corner of the house.

Nodding, Earl lead the way to the back door and knocked gently to avoid the surrounding unwanted attention. "Wait, what do I say when she answers?", Earl asked. "Here, I`ll do the talking and introduce you guys. It`ll feel like an honor showing someone a horror monster", Lori M. stated, prompting Earl to step aside.

For what felt like an eternity (really one minute), Lori M. waited for someone to answer the door as she kept knocking and calling for her friend or someone in her family to come and answer. As she did while nervously keeping an eye out for any danger alongside her companions, Earl tried to ease the tension by pulling out his karma list and read over some of the things he still had to make up for while Catalina started humming a Mexican song to herself.

Joy, who began to impatiently pace back and forth while waiting for someone to appear, was the first to cave into impatience as she stated, "Forget about waiting. Nobodies home even. I say we let ourselves in and take shelter until all these drone things leave the place", "I don`t know if that`s the right call Joy. Besides, even if I agreed with you how do you expect us to get in? This door looks solid as a wall", Earl replied. "I`ve got an idea. Saw it on a TV show once. All I need is a shovel and we can get inside to a safer shelter. Anyone see one?", Joy stated before she and everyone looked around the yard.

Spotting one leaning against the fence, Catalina approached the shovel when she saw a scouting drone that was passing by appear at the gate entrance. "Everyone! Look out!", she urgently exclaimed before rushing to grab the shovel to defend herself. Rather than attack Catalina however (due to her being out of its sight), the drone targeted Earl, Joy and Lori M. and fired a set of blasts. While Earl managed to evade at the last second and the shot fired at Joy missed, Lori M. found herself get struck and encased from head to toe in ice.

"No!", Earl exclaimed the second he saw what happened to Lori M. As she started to levitate into the sky, he tried to save her but several blasts and close hits from the attacking drone made it impossible for Earl to do anything. By the time Catalina came to his aid and destroyed the drone with multiple whacks from the shovel, Lori M. vanished in thin air.

For a few moments, Earl looked up at the last place where Lori M. was and shook his head in frustration. "Damn it. It all just…the one being in this world that trusted us and now she`s gone", he could only say as Catalina approached him looking equally shocked. "I tried to stop the drone before it could attack. It was too fast for me", she said.

Glancing at the side of the house and noting that the nearby drones had moved elsewhere, Joy got over her own shock and walked over to Catalina, taking the shovel. Before Catalina could even react to the action, Joy then approached the back door and with a clever swing she decapitated the doorknob, making the door lean open. She urgently gestured her companions in while looking around for any more surprise attacks.

Without wasting a second, the three humans entered the house and looked around for any danger before Joy blocked the door by pulling a nearby cabinet in front of it. After a few moments, nobody said a word as they tried to wrap their heads around the recent events. Finally, Joy broke the silence by saying in frustration, "Damn it. Now what do we do? If Lori M. was our ticket to getting a real fighter on our side, what do we say if we ever run into Killer?", "Wait, I thought you were against the idea of finding additional help from locals in this world", Catalina exclaimed. "Don`t analyze me at a time like this", Joy retorted.

Before the hostility could flare up, Earl got between the women and said, "Whoa. Whoa. Settle down everyone. Lori M. helped us get here and it would be insulting to just start bickering. I`m upset she`s gone just like my kid, his half-brother and everyone else in Camden are gone, but if she were here she`d want us to find Killer and fight to avenge everyone".

"Earls right. Who cares what Joy thinks? I say we find who we came here for and tell her about Lori M. and her sacrifice and how she wanted us to team up against the evils outside", Catalina replied feeling motivated. "And how do we find someone here? Place feels empty. I`m sure if anyone were taking cover from the army out there they`d have at least given a peek here out of curiosity", Joy stated looking around the place with more attention.

As Earl and Catalina also started to notice the details of the house a bit while putting their grief aside for the time being, the trio cautiously began to move around the place, drawn in by the otherworld oddity.

"Look, we`re just going to look for clues about where Killer could have gone if she isn`t here or something that can help us out in any way. And whatever you do Joy, don`t steal anything", Earl ordered as he stepped into what looked like a living room.

"Oh please. No need to act like I`m the guilty party here. I`m going to go check upstairs", Joy exclaimed from the kitchen as she secretly took a shiny spoon from the table and stashed it in her pocket before heading towards the stairwell. Catalina announced she`d check the upper area as well and followed Joy, leaving Earl by himself on the first floor.

 **Earl narrating:** "As the three of us explored the house, we all got lost in the mundane wonders it displayed. I ended up getting a chance to see some entertainment the locals here probably watched".

 **Scene shown:** _During Earl`s narration, he finds a remote control in between the couch cushions and presses the power button. Behind him, a TV turns on and Earl spins around in surprise. He sees a paused recording of an episode and randomly presses another button out of curiosity._

As soon as Earl hit the remotes button, a title card for a show called "Garbo & Malloy" along with some catchy introduction music appeared. Following this, an anthro dog and alligator appeared side by side onscreen.

"Hey Malloy, you ever notice that a lot of shows are getting cancelled after one season more often than they used to?", the anthro dog asked the alligator. "Oh no. Don`t tell me you bought another yacht. I thought the shows budget was already tight enough to fit into a pair of skinny jeans", the anthro alligator replied. "That`s a whoppah!", the dog exclaimed. Earl and the studio audience found themselves laughing to the corny joke alongside a drum and cymbal beat.

 **Earl narrating:** "While I tuned into the program, Joy wound up discovering some art and literature on the floor above me".

 **Scene shown:** _The scene transitions from Earl watching the show to Joy starring at the photos of the Borowski`s in the second floor hallway._

"Yeesh, I heard of cat people but this is taking it to an extreme", Joy told herself as she studied the pictures that displayed the family's history (like when Stan and Candy got married to Mae hanging out with her grandpa before his death). After she felt she looked at the pictures long enough, Joy looked around elsewhere and noticed a nearby bookshelf. Approaching it, she squatted down and read the titles.

"Whoa, whoever lives here owns more horror novels then the Camden County Library…what`s this? A book about a boy who falls in a well and is raised by eels? What kinda moron would like this story?", Joy exclaimed as she noted what kind of books lined the shelf.

 **Earl narrating:** "And while Joy was soaking up the literature, Catalina found another form of entertainment in the attic that blew her mind".

 **Scene shown:** _The scene transitions from Joy in the hallway to Catalina in Mae`s room. She`s sitting on her bed with the laptop in front of her. The next shot shows she`s playing Demontower with intensity, due to the fact that her character onscreen is taking damage from the enemies._

"Come on. Come on. How is this game even fair? Those knife throwing enemies are too hard to evade…damn it!", Catalina exclaimed as she saw her anthro cat character get hit three times by a fast moving knife wielding enemy in a dungeon level and die.

As she stared at the game over screen, Catalina considered rage quitting but found herself playing again, swearing to herself that she`d get to the end of the game she found no matter what.

 **Earl narrating:** "For the time being, every single trouble on our minds left us as we tried to enjoy the little things we had. However, it turns out Killer and her friend were right at the door and not prepared to see an unknown species in her property". 

**Scene shown:** _The scene transitions from Catalina starting another try at the game to Mae and Angus, who are crouching at the front door with Angus attempting to pick the lock while Mae keeps lookout._

As soon as the drones had moved far enough from the house, Mae and Angus decided to make their move and tried to get safely inside. However, the plan hit a roadblock when the front door turned out to be locked. After noting there was no key or any way to break in without making too much noise, Angus found a paper clip in his pocket and began to try and pick the lock.

"Come on Angus. I think the drones might hover in this direction at any moment", Mae nervously whispered as she noted a few of the enemies not too far away. "I`m trying my best. Plus, I`m only working on what I watched Gregg do whenever we were locked out of our home", Angus replied as he tried his best to mimic his boyfriends lock picking skills by moving the paperclip through the hole in a specific move set.

Luckily for the bear, he managed to recall enough of his memories to successfully make the lock click open. "Way to go Angus", Mae happily said, giving the bear a quick hug before gently pushing the door open. Right away, she heard the TV was on and leaned in, feeling hopeful that her dad would be in his usual spot on the couch.

Instead, Mae let out a startled gasp upon noticing that an unknown species was the one watching from her TV and laughing along to the onscreen jokes he heard. "Angus, what is that?", she nervously asked as she stepped away from the door. "I don`t know. Never seen or read anything like it", Angus could only say, also feeling intimidated by the being's presence.

Like Mae, Angus wanted to leave the area and get away from the possibly dangerous creature when he noticed a few drones heading down the street. Knowing it was the only way to avoid getting spotted, Angus nudged Mae towards the house.

Without making a peep, the duo entered and Angus quietly closed the door with his heart beating as fast as it could. To his momentarily relief, the drones passed without detecting anyone, though the calm only lasted a few seconds when he heard the mystery being laugh behind him again.

For a moment, the duo watched the strange creature and tried to determine how dangerous it was before moving upstairs and out of sight from it. Luckily for them, the thing didn`t turn to look behind it as Mae and Angus took one step up after the next.

As Mae nearly got to the top step, she whispered to Angus, "What do we do now? We`re stuck inside my house with a monster", "It could be harmless, though figuring that out could be too risky for now", Angus replied looking back to make sure the thing didn`t start following him. "I just hope my parents didn`t run into them or anything", Mae nervously told herself.

The moment Mae reached the second floor, she suddenly heard a shout from her parents' bedroom. "Hey Catalina, you should check out how much jewelry these homeowners got! Got a case full that`s probably worth more than my trailer". Before Mae could react, a second shout from her room was heard. "Not now. I think I`m getting close to beating this level. Ugh! How hard is it to find some healing items here?"

"Angus, we`re surrounded. There`s more than one of those things here", Mae nervously exclaimed as the duo stood still at the edge of the stairwell, too scared to move in any direction. "I have an idea. What if we sneak up on all the mystery creatures to knock out and restrain them one at a time? That way, we can take back the house and find out who they are without being at risk", Angus replied after a few moments of thought. "Sounds like a plan. The one downstairs seems preoccupied, so I say we go for the one in my room or my parents room first. The question is which creature do we get first?", Mae asked, prompting her and Angus to think things over.

 **Prompt that appears onscreen:**

 _ **Take down Catalina first (square button) or Take down Joy first (circle button)**_

 _-As a ten second countdown appears, the camera pans from Mae and Angus thinking to a shot of the stairway leading to Mae`s room followed by a shot of the Borowski parents' bedroom._

 **If Catalina was selected:** The answer ended up coming to Mae all on its own. "Come on Angus. Let`s take out the creature in my room. We`ll teach it a lesson for playing on my laptop without permission", she stated. "Got it. I`m right behind you", Angus replied before he and Mae began to head up the next flight of steps.

 **If Joy was selected:** The answer ended up coming to Mae all on its own. "Come on Angus. Let`s go get that creature in my parents' bedroom first. It`d better not be playing dress up with my mom's jewelry when we come in", she stated. "Got it. Let`s be careful", Angus replied before he and Mae moved for the bedroom.

 _This next part happens regardless of what the player chose:_

In the living room, Earl watched as the recorded episode came to an end. "Coming up next, is seven really a lucky number? Because it looks like Garbo`s luck is starting to run out", Malloy said before the screen stopped, having no more recorded video to play.

Earl picked up the remote and pressed a few more random buttons, getting only static. "Well, guess I had my fun. Time to get back to business", he said tossing the remote aside. Before he could start looking at anything else, a sudden scream from upstairs got his attention followed by the sounds of an intense scuffle. "Joy!? Catalina!?", he exclaimed dashing for the stairwell. As he ran to the second floor, he heard an unknown female voice shout for someone named Angus to attack, followed by another loud crash.

 **If Catalina was selected:** As soon as Earl ran up to the second floor, Joy dashed out of the bedroom looking equally alarmed. "Joy, what`s going on? Where`s Catalina?", Earl asked urgently.

Before Joy could say a word, a loud crash was heard from the attic followed by Catalina tumbling down the stairs partially bound in a bed sheet. Following her were Mae and Angus (the former holding a bat), who looked alarmed the minute they spotted the two other humans.

"So much for stealth", Angus exclaimed while Catalina let out a slight moan of pain. Out of nowhere, Joy grabbed a nearby horror story from the shelf and flung it at the bear. Angus immediately asked what Joy was doing the moment after he ducked.

"Oh, "So much for stealth" You creeps were planning to pick us off, wern`t you?", Joy stated aggressively. "We were defending my home from intruders. And just so you know, your friend hit me first. Wait a minute, is that my mom's jewelry?", Mae exclaimed before noticing a necklace sticking out of Joys pocket while Angus looked like he started to regret his earlier idea.

As Joy turned her pocket and spilled out the jewelry, Mae gripped her bat tighter and said, "I think it`s time you leave and join your own forces outside", "We`re not going outside. But you might as well once me and Earl kick your ass. You`re not so tough and neither is your chubby buddy", Joy threatened.

This made Mae and Angus look more aggressive along with Earl (who started to pick up the negativity in the air, not helped by the fact that when he saw Catalina crawl out of the way still in pain it made some of his own rage surface).

"Come on Angus! We fight!", Mae yelled before she and her friend attacked, with Joy and Earl eager to thrown their own punches in the intense brawl that ensued.

 **If Joy was selected:** As soon as Earl ran up to the second floor, he heard Catalina run down the stairs from the attic before he saw her. "Catalina, what`s going on? Where`s Joy?", Earl asked urgently.

Before Catalina could say a word, a loud crash was heard from the bedroom followed by cries of help from Joy. "Someone help! I`m stuck! These things knocked a dresser drawer on me and I`m pinned down!"

Following this shout, Mae and Angus ran out into the hallway (the former clutching a metal bar she got from the bed) and imminently looked alarmed the second they saw the two humans. "So much for stealth", Angus commented. Out of nowhere, Catalina took a framed photo from the wall and flung it at Angus. The bear ducked, though the picture looked damaged the moment it hit the wall behind him.

"No! What did you do that for!? That was taken with my grandpa when I was a baby!", Mae exclaimed angrily, realizing exactly what photo was ruined. "You attacked my ally and judging by your friend's stealth comment you were probably going to attack me once you quietly finished taking her out. Is that right?", Catalina quickly retorted. Mae only gripped her weapon tighter while Angus looked like he regretted his idea.

"You and your porn stash friend are going to leave now. Do it or else I`ll make you regret coming here even more", Mae threatened. "We`re not going out into that dangerous territory outside, but I can promise you a good fight since you sound like you want one", Catalina stated, raising her fists.

The hostility Catalina displayed made Mae and Angus feel more aggressive along with Earl (who`s fight or flight instincts kicked in as he continued to hear Joy shout from the other room alongside the threats and insults the cat was giving, with the fight side coming into play quickly).

"Come on Angus! We fight!", Mae yelled before she and her friend attacked, with Catalina and Earl eager to thrown their own punches in the intense brawl the ensued.

 **Fight 4-3:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Angus**

 **-Mae**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-Earl**

 **-Joy/Catalina (note: whoever the player chose to take out earlier isn`t fought)**

After the fight:

 **(Authors note: Follow the name that fit your previous choice as to who fought and ignore the other one when reading)**

 **Earl narrating:** "When I started to get into the fight with Joy/Catalina by my side, I thought me and her would win. The cat and bear didn`t really look like the athletic type to me, so I assumed it would be an easy victory. To my surprise, I found myself on the floor starring at an angry cat with a bat/metal bar not too far from my face with my backup fighter also in a tight position"

 **Scene shown:** _As Earl hits the ground and clenches his teeth in pain, Mae walks over casually and puts a boot on his chest before holding her weapon up to his face like she`s about to swing a golf ball. Nearby, Angus pins Joy/Catalina against the wall like they`re being arrested and warns them not to move._

"Wait, don`t hit me while I`m down. We just came here to look for Killer", Earl hastily exclaimed. The second the cat heard that name, she and Angus looked startled. "How did you know my nickname?", she asked, sounding caught off guard.

 **If Catalina was selected:** Catalina suddenly threw the bed sheet off her and signaled to everyone that she was standing down from any attacks before she leaned against the stairs, waiting for the last of her pain to leave her. It was at that moment she got a good look at Mae and recalled something Lori M. said on the walk over; something in her mind connected.

"You know, if this is who we`re looking for she doesn`t match what I pictured at all with what that mouse said. I kind of imagined she`d be taller at least", Catalina commented, studying the cat.

"Wait, are you talking about someone named Lori M? You didn`t do anything to her, did you?", Mae asked, some aggression returning to her voice. "She was frozen by a drone while leading us here. We came to find help…from you I guess", Earl answered.

 **If Joy was selected:** Joy suddenly appeared at the bedroom's doorframe and leaned against it huffing. "Who knew crawling out from under a dresser could take a lot out of you? Just give me a minute", she awkwardly stated before noticing Mae again.

Taking another look, Joy exclaimed, "Wait a second, this looks like the cat that mouse told us about on the way over here. Seems kinda chubbier that I predicted though".

"Wait, are you talking about someone named Lori M? You didn`t do anything to her, did you?", Mae asked, some aggression returning to her voice. "She was frozen by a drone while leading us here. We came to find help…from you I guess", Earl answered.

 _The next part of the story plays mostly the same:_

Mae took her foot off Earls chest while keeping an eye on him and his two companions. "So let me get this straight: You were searching for me to help you with something? And Lori M. was helping you before those things outside got her?"

"Yes. We thought you were some kind of fighter, if the name Killer seemed to give any indication", Earl stated as he got up while Angus let go of Joy/Catalina, who backed away from him a bit. Mae shook her head with a bit of dread and stated, "My name is Mae Borowski, not Killer. That other name came from an event in my childhood I`m really not happy to talk about".

As soon as the facts sunk in, Joy let out a frustrated tirade. "Come on! We went through all that trouble for an ally and this is who we get? She doesn`t even look like a killer, much less any level of danger", "Hey, I can be dangerous. I have nightmare eyes!", Mae declared, glaring ominously at Joy while Catalina looked a bit nervous by the action.

"Settle down Mae. I have a question I`d like to ask these creatures", "Humans. We`re humans", "Right. I want to know from these humans where they came from exactly. Since nobody has actually seen your species here before, I`m guessing you came from elsewhere like the drones?", Angus asked.

"You could say that. There was an attack on our hometown. One minute we were running for our lives and the next we were here. What`s happening in this world is like day ya woo or something like that", Earl said.

 **Earl narrating:** "At that point everyone started to realize that none of the five of us were any real enemies to each other, though there was some distrust between us given the fight and all. And to top things off, nobody had a clear idea what to do next given all that had just happened. That all changed when the TV announcement came on".

 **Scene shown:** _Everyone in the hallway is shown reflecting all the facts and thoughts that they know while the animals and humans look at one another with mild distrust. Suddenly, a strange noise is heard from the downstairs TV, grabbing everyone's attention almost immediately._

"May I have all the inhabitants of this world's attention please? I have the honor to announce that two animals from your world have been given a great honor. In fact, you could say it`s the first real honor I`ve given out since the start of my master plan", the voice from the TV said as Joy looked alarmed.

"Earl, Catalina. That voice. It`s that voice I`ve heard before from the trailer park and on those machines", she said in a near traumatized tone before running down the stairs with everyone else following her. The second the five got to the living room, they saw what looked like a masked figure speaking on the screen, giving off the vibe of the infamous Max Headroom broadcast hack.

"When I sent my army to this world, I had the intent of finding two real fighters. Two fighters who could take everything I could throw at them. After so many pathetic failures I was almost ready to give up and search elsewhere when they came into my eye", the masked figure said before the broadcast changed to show a new image.

The second Mae and Angus saw what came next, they both let out a cry of panic. Laying on the ground unconscious and surrounded by drones were Bea and Gregg.


	29. Night in the Woods- Part 6

From the Borowski household living room, Mae and Angus could only watch with anxiety as their two closest companions lay unconscious in harm's way on live TV, surrounded and unable to escape the metallic enemies that heavily guarded them.

Standing close by, Earl, Joy and Catalina also observed the knocked out alligator and fox onscreen and tried to understand everything they were seeing and hearing. All they knew was that one way or another, something more sinister was around the corner based on how the onscreen voice kept rambling about how the two animals would be his perfect generals once he was finished with them.

"Excuse me, who are those animals?", Earl asked in an attempt to get some answers. "My friend", "My boyfriend", Mae and Angus simultaneously answered without taking their eyes off the television. The camera then zoomed back as the masked figure started to brag about all the conquering he`d done so far in all the other destroyed worlds, saying that within twenty-four hours the displayed results he`d already gotten would grow exponentially.

The moment everyone saw the shot, the humans ended up getting as equally horrified as the two animals. What they witnessed on an apartment rooftop were the many frozen victims of Possum Springs and several other worlds amid the guard drones. Mae ended up nearly fainting when she saw her frozen parents were on display right next to Woola and Roses love interest Michael. Catalina shivered with fear while Joy and Earl let out a scream when they saw Dodge and Earl Jr. were in the shot of the captured from conquered worlds, the look of still horror on their faces being the nightmare fuel of nightmare fuel.

The camera then started to zoom back to focus on Gregg and Bea as the voice said, "Since the two I was looking for came in this world, I`ve decided to give everyone a special treat: I won`t use one of my dimension erasers on your field of existence. Instead, the ones who were lucky enough to evade my drones until this point will be left behind in a husk of what was once a proud life, forgotten and destroyed with no possible hope of recovery. I hope I`ve given each and every one of you an experience that will stay active in your minds until your natural deaths. The crowning achievements of my plans were your…."

Angus managed to snap out of the shocked trance first and exclaimed, "They`re still there. Bea`s apartment. Everyone is on the rooftop of that apartment down the street", upon recalling the familiar details of the background and noting the last place he saw his boyfriend. This made everyone look at each other with ambiguity in their emotions.

 **Earl narrating:** "When the five of us first came together, distrust and fear were what ruled us over. We all didn`t know anything about the ones who were from another world and didn`t know what their full intentions were. However, after seeing an enemy put lives everyone cared about in harm's way, the five of us found common ground and managed to unite for a cause."

 **Scene shown:** _As the humans and anthro animals look at each other, any faint hostility and distrust formed during the previous fight is seen dissolving in their expressions. A new sense of confidence and trust takes over. A smash cut of the five walking down Maple Street is shown next. As Nickelbacks song "Edge of a Revolution" plays in the background, Mae swings her bat she has at hand and easily takes out a drone while her armed allies walk alongside her also dispatching any enemy in between them and the apartment._

The apartment came into view as the new team walked up the street, determined to get to the rooftop and free their captured loved ones. Never before had any of them felt more powerful in their lives as they took down one foe after another and got closer to the building. However, the euphoria within the five quickly dissolved when they noticed all the drones they were facing ahead of them (as well as everywhere else) started to disappear before they could get to them. Nearly dropping the chair she took from the Borowski`s kitchen to use as a melee weapon, Joy exclaimed, "What the hell is going on?", before looking up towards the apartments rooftop.

To her and everyone else`s alarm, the frozen victims of the current and previous worlds all started to rise into the sky and vanish once again. Bringing up the rear were Bea and Gregg, who were each picked up by the last two remaining drones in the world and lifted upward, disappearing from their reality in the blink of an eye.

In the few moments that followed, the five stood still in the empty and quiet ruins of what was once a functioning small town. Mae then broke the silence by letting out a despaired cry of grief. "No! We lost! My parents! Bea! Gregg! Everyone! We`re going to die!", she shrieked before dropping her bat and nervously hugging Angus, crying her eyes out.

Angus didn`t take his eyes off the last spot where he saw Gregg. "No. We can`t lose. There`s something we must be able to do", he said, struggling to come up with a way to go after the abductors and save his boyfriend, even though he knew through his panic it seemed and felt next to impossible.

Catalina could only shake her head in sorrow and looked around the town, taking in the bitter aftermath and destruction. She asked Earl and Joy what they should do now that they were probably stuck here forever as her two companions did their best not to panic amid their frustration of failing to save their kids again. "Well, with almost nobody around we could start a new life. Everything fancy would be free at least. Could use a hot tub that won`t give me an infected toe and another slushy machine. Plus, Darnell will have an easier time finding me here if he`s here. I know he will", Joy tried to say optimistically, not wanting to face the reality of everything that happened to her any more.

"Come on everyone! We can`t just throw in the towel now. One of us must have a plan or idea on how to go after those drones. If me and my two companions managed to go from our world to this one, there could still be a way to travel to another place again somehow. Maybe if we got ahold of a drone, we can study it or something. Find out how it teleports", Earl exclaimed after taking a few deep breathes to calm himself, prompting everyone to glance back at the trail of destroyed drones that remained from the groups warpath.

Upon seeing how smashed the machinery within a lot of the abandoned drones were, the short round of optimism started to dwindle with the worry there could be nothing intact enough to use.

At this point, Mae stopped crying and noted the laptop carrier full of drone pieces Angus had over his shoulder. It had been on him during the whole ordeal without falling off. "Angus, you still have all the pieces you collected at the Party Barn, right?", she asked in surprise. "What? Oh, yes. I guess I do. Almost forgot about it", Angus replied taking the carrier off his shoulder, half his mind elsewhere for a few moments.

"Wait a second. What are you thinking Mae?", Joy asked, noticing the feline look like she was onto an idea. "When we first ran into those invaders, Angus ended up collecting the pieces from a drone that are mostly intact. Maybe those pieces are part of the teleporter technology within", Mae answered, starting to feel some hope return. "It`s not a guarantee, but I think I collected most of its mainframe to work with. You know, the center process unit and primary memory of a computer or machine", Angus said when he noted the three humans looked like they didn`t understand a word he was saying.

Deciding to carry on the topic rather than dwell on something he still didn`t understand, Earl asked Angus if he could possibly put the pieces together to make the device work. "I don`t know. I mean, I`ve taken apart and put together watches, computers and even a TV set once. But a drone mainframe? I`m in new territory working on this", Angus nervously replied, worried what dangers lay within working on the unknown device as well as possibly only having one shot to get it right. "Angus! You have to try for Greggs sake along with everyone who got captured. If we have a working drone engine, maybe we can use it to teleport wherever they were all taken", Mae exclaimed, with the humans chorusing their agreement.

As hope between everyone started to feel renewed once Angus said he`d give it a try, Joy suddenly realized another problem. "Hold on a dang minute. How do we even know where those invaders and abductors went exactly? Far as we know, having a working engine/teleporter/thingamajig is useless if we end up jumping to the wrong dimension. Could end up in an alternate reality where I was never sexy to begin with or one where we could all grow more heads from something off in the atmosphere", she exclaimed, making everyone ponder.

Looking towards the apartment, Catalina started walking towards it, saying only that she had a hunch. Curious, her four companions followed her into the building's lobby, which looked like it went through a really destructive riot. As they all took in the heavy damage, Catalina looked up towards the ceiling and exclaimed, "A-ha! I think we may figure out where everyone was taken to", "What do you mean by that?", Earl asked before looking up and spotting the security camera his friend had seen first.

"That camera is working and if we`re lucky so is every other one in the building. Maybe one of the drones or that voice spoke on film and said where they were going once they finished ransacking this place", Catalina explained. "Good idea. Could be our best chance at finding a clue. How did you come up with the idea so fast?", Angus asked as everyone started looking for the security room. "Saw some characters on a few TV shows and movies use that idea when I took hour long breaks from cleaning motel room. It always seemed like a critical plot point from what I could gather", Catalina exclaimed before Joy shouted that she found the room off to the side, which was slightly trashed but still functioning.

When everyone approached the guard station monitors, they noted that while the recording system was still on and alright, some of the controls were ruined thanks to a coffee spill. After poking around, Earl ended up finding a storage DVD that was collecting all the footage from every hallway and removed it carefully from the main computer.

"I can play this at me and Greggs place on our television. It should be safer for us to be there just in case anything dangerous is still lingering around here. Plus, I`ll have a familiar environment to work on that drone engine", Angus stated as he took the DVD. "Sounds like a good idea", Mae said. "Hey, if she says it`s good, I`m convinced", Catalina added before everyone left the room and the apartment quickly.

"Mae, this bears place as safe as he says it is?", Joy asked the feline outside as her friend lead the way down the street. "Of course it is. Last time I needed a safe place from danger, the apartment ended up being the familiar and right call", Mae replied before realizing she told someone a bit too much about the dark secret she and her friends shared. Earl noted Mae and Angus` reaction and asked what they meant by "last time". "It was nothing", Angus only replied, his tone making it clear he wasn`t going to talk about it. Feeling it wouldn`t be worth the trouble, Earl let his curiosity leave him and focused all his thoughts on finding out where he would have to travel next alongside everyone else.

 **[3 hours later]**

Joy, Earl and Mae sat on top of the apartment stairwell section that was on Gregg and Angus` floor with a pile of lightbulbs next to them. Simultaneously, the females picked one up and flung them down the steps with all their vigor. Joy`s lightbulb shattered on the 8th step while Mae`s shattered on the 11th, adding to the huge pile of broken glass below.

"Yes! That`s my third round won in a row. I`m ahead six points!", Mae cheered while Joy muttered under her breathe how embarrassed she was that she was losing to a cat and that she was lucky none of the ladies from the hair salon were here to gossip about this.

As the duo each selected another lightbulb, Earl stood up and looked into the hallway towards Angus and Greggs place. "Are you sure Angus` landlord won`t be mad at us when he sees how much damage we did? I`d hate to get him in trouble for this", he asked Mae. "Don`t think that`s a problem. It`s just the five of us alone in this world probably", Mae replied sadly before she and Joy flung their next lightbulbs as far as they could. This time, Joy ended up winning the round. "Oh yeah, 16-13. I`m catching up on ya", Joy taunted. "Cheater! You didn`t have that many points. I`ve been keeping track", Mae accused, making some conflict arise.

As the two verbally quarreled and threw childish insults at each other, Earl sighed and thought back on the recent events as he leaned against the doorway.

 _(An instrumental version of NITW`s song "Die Anywhere Else" plays over the montage)_

 **Earl narrating:** "After we`d made it to Angus` place and hunkered down in his apartment, everyone had gotten started on the engine reconstruction and the surveillance disc. Since Angus was the expert in robot biology or whatever the subject was called, he worked on the machine alone while the rest of us started going through many hours of the footage in fast forward mode."

 **Scene shown:** _The story goes back in time and shows the group of five enter the apartment with the humans looking around for a few moments in wonder (mainly due to how nice the place is compared to their homes in Camden). Angus immediately enters his room and puts the drone parts on his desk while Mae approaches the DVD player with the disc she got earlier from her friend outside. She puts it in, bringing up several camera angle options to go over. Mae then sits down on the couch with the humans joining her and picks up the nearby remote. From there, she picks the camera feed recovered from the lobby and presses a button to speed up footage from a week ago. After a few moments, Joy stands up and approaches the kitchen, feeling it`ll be a long task and that a snack would help make the waiting periods easier._

 **Earl narrating:** "After Joy caused an incident that involved the stove nearly exploding, Angus suggested she step out and clear her head for his and everyone's sake. Not wanting to have her alone in a strange world, I ended up accompanying her. About a minute later, Mae joined us in the hallway, saying that Catalina would take over the video investigation while she took a break to deal with some stress she was feeling."

 **Scene shown:** _The scene jumps forward to the Joy getting pushed out of the apartment with smoke notable in the background. As she turns around to argue with a pissed off Angus, Earl steps in between them and says something to the bear that calms him down before he closes the door. A minute forward shows the two humans lingering the hallway when the door opens again. A stressed Mae steps out in the hallway and closes the door behind her, glancing up uneasily at the two humans._

 **Earl narrating:** "As the three of us wondered what to do next, Mae ended up with an idea that involved lightbulbs and a game she once played with Gregg in her youth. Next thing I knew, I was watching her and Joy collect those lightbulbs all over the building."

 **Scene shown:** _The scene cuts from the trio in the hallway to Mae opening a janitors closet and collecting several bulbs from the top shelf in a box with Joys help while Earl looks on. Mae then spots another bulb in a corner and grabs it, only to be electrocuted. To Earl and Joys surprise, she shakes it off as if it were nothing before closing the door._

 **Earl narrating:** "And during the quest to find more lightbulbs, me and Joy got to know more about the feline while she got to know more about us. She told us about one of her friend's pet possum named Rabbies while I told her about my karma list".

 **Scene shown:** _The scene transitions from the hallway to Joy standing on her tiptoes atop a coffee table in an open apartment, trying to unscrew a lightbulb that`s a bit out of reach. As she does, Earl is showing Mae his karma list and explaining the origins behind it while the duo watch Joys efforts at the doorway._

"So you`re trying to undo all the bad things you ever did in your life?", Mae asked curiously as she read over Earls list. "Yep. Do good things, good things happened to you. Do bad things, bad things happened to you", Earl said before folding the list and putting it back in his pocket.

"I`ll admit that is impressive, though I still find the story of how Germ met his pet to be the superior one. No offense", Mae said. "Ha! Must feel like an idiot for bragging about that dumb list of yours if a story about a stupid vermin critter can do better", Joy taunted. Suddenly, she accidently leaned forward a bit on the table and fell flat on her face, moaning in pain. As Mae stared in disbelief, Earl shrugged and casually told Mae, "Whatdya know, karma", as his ex-wife slowly got up looking irritated.

 **Earl narrating:** "And as we collected the final lightbulbs necessary to start the game at the stairwell, Catalina and Angus got to bond a bit as well over their professions".

 **Scene shown:** _The scene transitions from Joy to Angus and Catalina in the apartment, with Angus making progress putting his drone pieces back together while Catalina keeps going over the footage, still not finding anything useful._

Catalina found herself letting out a frustrated groan, prompting Angus to lean out of his bedroom for a moment to check on her. "You holding up okay?", he asked. "Yeah. Just a bit tired. I wish Mae and Earl were back here to help", Catalina replied.

"Knowing Mae, she`s dragging your friends into something crazy and a little illegal but mostly harmless, I think. It might be for the best to let them have fun anyways, considering we`re definitely up for some stressful times. I`m more than halfway done assembling our ticket to the next world", Angus explained.

"You might be onto something. Plus, studying video footage for anything important does remind me of my old job when I worked at this place called Chubby`s a bit. Ended up doing some really shady stuff to get by. Speaking of work, what do you do for a living anyway Angus?", Catalina asked as she returned her focus to the TV and fast forwarded another section of recording.

"I work at this video rental store. Has a lot of nice horror films I like to watch along with a few other things from the other genera`s. Don`t tell Gregg this if you meet him: one of my wildest fantasies is to take every movie I loathe in that store and put it in a pile and burn it to a crisp. If I ever see another bad rom-com movie soon after all this, I`d go nuts", Angus replied, making Catalina smile at that for a moment. Before the duo fully returned to their work.

 **Earl narrating:** "At this point, it felt like the time spent outside the apartment had been long enough. As Mae and Joy stayed back to settle their score differences, I headed back to see if any progress had been reached."

 **Scene shown:** _The story cuts back to Earl as he`s shown walking down the hallway to the apartment with Joy and Mae still bickering behind him. He ends up reaching the door and raises a fist to knock. To his surprise, Catalina opens it at the last second looking excited._

"Earl! I`m so glad you came!", Catalina exclaimed, a hint of dread in her voice. "Did you find something on the footage?", Earl guessed, knowing what the answer already was before Catalina nodded. Looking towards the stairwell, Earl shouted for Joy and Mae to come over, with Mae replying that she and Joy were doing a quick "tie breaker" round to see who was the ultimate winner.

The sound of two lightbulbs breaking were heard followed by Mae cheering and Joy whining. "Yes! Yes! I`m the lightbulb thrower master! I`m like a queen of it or something!", Mae exclaimed running down the hallway with Joy following her bitterly. "Too bad you didn`t swallow any glass", she exclaimed. "Too bad you didn`t fall down the stairs onto that big pile of glass", Mae replied, making Joy look shocked and confused as to why the cat would answer like that so jovially.

The trio entered the apartment and found Angus in the living room looking apprehensively at the TV. The minute Mae saw a paused scene that had Bea and Gregg on it in front of the Santellos apartment, all her excitement faded and the worry she previously had came back to her. "Catalina, what did you find exactly? Bea and Gregg didn`t get seriously hurt before they were knocked out, were they?", Mae asked, feeling guilty she let something critically important slip her mind so long just to blow off some steam.

"Not exactly, but I didn`t see everything on the broadcast. Do you or Angus need a minute before we all watch?", Catalina responded as she picked up the remote again. "No. We can`t waste any time. I want to know what happened", Angus replied, trying not to make his voice quiver. "Same here", Mae replied, not taking her eyes off the screen as she sat down on the couch again. Earl and Joy both gave a nod when Catalina glanced at them for an answer. With everyone now onboard and without stalling for a second, she raised the remote towards the TV and hit play, ready for a haunting viewing of Bea and Greggs last minutes of freedom.


	30. Night in the Woods- Final

**Applebaum Apartments**

 **Third Floor**

 **9:20:17:03**

 **REC.**

Bea looked nervously down the hallway and hoped that the drones from the lobby wouldn`t appear before she managed to get inside her home. As she kept a lookout, Gregg was crouched down beside her and busy trying to pick the apartment lock open with a paperclip and a pen.

"You know, if your dad didn`t come to the door after we spent a minute outside knocking and calling for him to answer then there`s a good chance that nobody is inside", Gregg couldn`t help but say, making Bea glare bitterly at him. "I just want to go in and check the place out myself just to be sure. Focus on the lock".

"Yeesh, settle down Bea. Snapping at me isn`t going to do anyone any favors. Not my fault you lost your key in the scuffle out there or that we`re surrounded by foes who want to freeze us", Gregg replied before doing a tight turn inside the lock.

Bea looked ready to retort again, but stopped and took a deep breath, feeling it`d be best not to argue at a time like this. "Sorry. I`m just scared to lose the only parent I have left and I don`t know why my dad isn`t answering. He never really goes out much, though there is the possibility he could have gone out to find me in all that danger outside.", she replied nervously, making Gregg give a sympathetic nod. "If that happened, I`m sure he left us a note or something to tell us where he went. Plus, he could have made it somewhere else safely like Mae and Angus (I hope)", he said.

The last words Bea said made some grim possibilities to her dad's fate go through her head (such as him frozen outside by a drone or finding him in a bloody crime scene in the apartment). Wanting to take her mind off that, Bea ended up asking Gregg a question and hoped it would quell her some of her fears.

"What did you expect from Bright Harbor anyway?", "Wait, what?", Gregg asked, caught off guard a bit by the randomness. "I saw how excited you were earlier when you thought you`d go to your dream town. What is it that you want in that place?", Bea replied, glancing down the hallway when she though she heard something.

"I just feel like it`s the best place for me and Angus; a perfect fresh start. Don`t get me wrong about Possum Springs. It is (or rather was) a great town, but we both need to do something major elsewhere in a place with actual action before we get too old. Leave a legend behind that was even bigger than the robot me and Mae once assembled and left in the woods. I`ll admit that part will be hard to top though", Gregg replied, his eyes shining a bit from his desires.

"Seems like an interesting goal", Bea replied. "That`s not all. The two of us would live on the top floor of the best apartment available, there`d be a Donut Wolf on the same block. I tell you, it`d be the perfect fantasy", Gregg added before he accidently dropped his pen, cutting off his train of thought.

As the fox quickly picked it up and hoped he put it back in the right place when he resumed the lock picking, he decided to ask Bea something. "If this whole attack blows over, are you and your dad going to stay around town or will you be leaving?", "I`m going to suggest leaving, though it`ll seem unlikely considering the Old Pickaxe is still the main source of income for us and that we have no other way to earn cash. I`ll admit this though, if that building were in ruins and Creek is gone forever it`d make my day", Bea replied. "Wait, Creek? You mean that guy who tried to…", "Yes. Look, I don`t want to talk about it. Just get us inside quickly".

Less than ten seconds after the short conversation ended, Gregg managed to open the apartment door lock, prompting him and Bea to run in calling for Mr. Santello. It was hard to know what was going on inside as the security camera only filmed the hallway, but what was heard after several moments was the sound of glass shattering and a shriek from Bea.

Bea and Gregg backed out into the hallway again with Gregg having his knife drawn while his friend stood behind him looking for a weapon. Following them out was a hovering drone that was filming the duo intensely.

"What the eff is that thing doing?", Gregg exclaimed before taking a swing at the drone, hitting it but not causing a lot of damage. "I don`t know, but if all this is some sort of Big Brother-esque government experiment, I`m not interested in being a part of it", Bea replied before she stepped forward and also threw a punch that connected.

The hovering drone backed away and suddenly emitted a strange signal, making Gregg and Bea look at one another in confusion. Before either could ask what it was doing this time, a strange buzzing sound was heard in the air.

"It sounds like more of them", Gregg exclaimed in alarm before a few more hovering drones appeared out of the apartment (having entered through a window in Beas room like the first one did). Out of nowhere, a blast was fired from one end of the hallway and nearly hit Bea. "Gregg, run!", the alligator shouted sprinting down the other end of the hallway with the fox right behind her. After the duo left the screen, many other types of drones came and went past the filmed video as well, intending to chase their next victims down.

 _(Back in the present time):_

Earl watched the whole security footage with a mix of dread and fear for Bea and Gregg`s safety. As he did, he also gazed at his companions to see how they were reacting.

When the footage reached the part where Gregg talked about his plans for Bright Harbor, Angus ended up leaving the living room and returned to his bedroom without a sound, closing the door behind him. For a moment, Mae looked tempted to follow him but decided he needed space for a moment and continued to watch. Joy and Catalina didn`t seem calm during the whole viewing either, with the hovering drone's appearance making them act like they saw a jump scare from a real horror film.

After the footage of Bea and Gregg running from the drone army in the hallway ended, Catalina paused the screen and pressed some buttons to go to another camera angle. "The roof seems like the best place to check out next, considering it was the last place we saw them", she explained.

Several moments went by as Catalina fast-forwarded the footage to the current day. As she did, Mae nervously curled into a ball and hugged herself while Joy paced around the room wondering if anything else frightening would be seen. Earl approached Angus` bedroom but stopped himself from entering when he heard the bear working on the engine with more intensity, rushing to complete the device.

Finally, Catalina reached the exact moment that Bea and Gregg ran out onto the rooftop and paused the video for everyone in the room to return to the couch. Once the four felt they were ready, Catalina hit play and the events from the hallway continued in the new location.

 **Applebaum Apartments**

 **Rooftop**

 **9:27:39:15**

 **REC.**

Bea and Gregg frantically burst out of the doorway onto the rooftop and immediately turned around, slamming the entrance shut behind them. One quick look around for anything useful for a blockade had the duo slide a grill, a cinderblock and a wrench in front of the door and in the handle.

As they backed away from the entrance wondering how long they had until they were definitely cornered, the buzzing sound from the hallway was heard again. Out of nowhere, about a hundred hovering drones appeared around Bea and Gregg and circled around them menacingly.

"AHH! Bea! What the eff do we do now?! We`re done for!", Gregg nervously exclaimed as he looked down at his knife again, the weapon looking so useless against all the foes he was facing. Out of nowhere, one of the hovering drones went towards Bea. Quickly, the alligator grabbed it and managed to slam it down to the ground, destroying it completely.

"I`ll tell you what we do Gregg. We`ll smash every single one of these things no matter what it takes", Bea stated, a look of aggressiveness in her eye. Seeing this made Gregg suddenly feel empowered as well. The fox stopped shivering in fear and began to look bolder when facing the swarm of hovering drones. "That sounds like a brilliant plan. Almost feels like crimes", he managed to comment before all the attacks were thrown at the duo.

 **Fight 4-4:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Bea**

 **-Gregg**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-100 hovering drones** _ **(note: each one is defeated in one or two hits)**_

 _After the fight:_

One by one, all the attacking hovering drones were destroyed, amounting to a pile of scrap that formed around Bea and Gregg. "Who-hoo! Gregg rulez!", Gregg loudly declared flapping his arms as the last drone was taken down for good. "Yes, I guess you do. Now we`d better find a way to get off this building before-", Bea began.

Out of nowhere, the doorway to the rooftop slammed open again and several electric drones burst out, firing at the duo. Before either of them could react, Gregg and Bea found themselves hitting the ground twitching from the electric blasts that hit them before their bodies and minds faded to unconscious.

Right away, the rooftop got flooded with drones again, with several freeze drones approaching and surrounding the fox and alligator. Rather than freeze them however, the machines simply looked down on them. Following this, a familiar voice was heard from the drone closest to the duo as a sole hovering drone appeared and gave the speaker an eye on the surroundings.

"Yes! Yes! Yes! Finally! Two worthy recruits to lead my army! If they can take down a hundred enemies back to back, then I say they can lead the conquest of all conquests!", the boss excitedly stated. After a few moments passed, he got his excitement under control and started giving out orders.

"Let's see, I need some of you to override every TV signal on this world. Whoever is left unfrozen is getting a special viewing treat. Hey Mal, beam some of the beings from the other dimensions down to that apartment rooftop. I think the broadcast could use a touch of amazing scenery. And while you`re at it, get some co-ordinates ready for the Nothing-verse, cause that`s where these two will be going once we`re all done with them".

During the time the Boss gave orders, several of the drones hovered off while Bea and Gregg continued to lay motionless, unaware of a cruel fate awaiting them at the hands of the enemy.

 _(Present time again)_

At this point, Catalina hit the fast forward option on the remote again. What everyone saw in the sped up footage were the frozen victims from the broadcast appearing out of nowhere and lowered into position (This made everyone look really uncomfy as they tried to either look away but couldn`t or looked right away and felt despair yet again in full swing). After that, a hovering drone appeared in front of the setting and filmed everything on the rooftop for a few minutes.

When the footage reached the point where the broadcast obviously ended, everything on the rooftop either vanished immediately or rose up into the sky and out of the cameras sight. Once the security feed only showed a bare rooftop again, Catalina hit the off button, leaving everyone starring at the blank screen in silence.

A few moments passed before Earl cleared his throat and spoke up. "We know where we have to go now. The Nothing-verse", he said urgently. "How do we get there exactly? Angus isn`t even done with the device. It could take a lot of time to finish", Mae answered looking despondent; trying not to imagine what was happening to her friends and family at the moment.

The door to Angus` bedroom suddenly opened again and the bear stepped out holding a completed drone engine. "I think we`ll be able to do something about our taken loved ones now. Behold, the dimension traveler device", he stated, making everyone approach it with interest and sudden optimism.

The drone engine section, which also contained the part that helped drones travel dimensions, looked almost like a jet black PlayStation system. Only it had many different extensions and outlets, had a grittier feel on the surface, glowed a red-orange and emitted a very faint and alien humming noise. In the center of the device was a screen that looked like a calculator screen, with the words "Finjin-verse" faintly visible.

"Way to go Angus", Earl exclaimed as he gave the bear a pat on the back while Catalina and Mae nearly jumped up and down with joy. "Hold on a minute. I don`t mean to rain on anyone's parade, but how do we actually get to the next dimension we want?", Joy suddenly asked. This made everyone pause and glance at Angus again.

"I don`t know that yet. I only came out after I saw the system boot up", he replied. "So we still have no clue how to get to the Nothing-verse?", Mae asked disappointed. "Hold on Mae. Don`t start fretting yet. Maybe there`s something easy we need to do. There could be a button or switch we need to push first", Earl said before he reached out and started poking around the machine, with everyone else leaning over to feel for something as well.

Feeling his grip on the device slip a bit, Angus took a step back and jerked the machine from the reaching hands. "Stop it. There`s no buttons or switches on this thing. Look, I know there is a way to get from this world… "The Finjin-verse" to that "Nothing-verse" dimension, but your idea doesn`t seem like the right one", he explained glancing at the device after a short pause between the sentences.

Less than three seconds after he spoke, the machine suddenly made a strange noise and got everyone's full attention again. The name of the current universe on the devices screen beeped a few times before the "Nothing-verse" name took its place. Following this, strange electricity emitted on the surface and went harmlessly through Angus, making his companions stumble back.

"Angus?!", Mae exclaimed with worry while Joy and Catalina hid behind her, completely scared out of their wits. "Mae…everyone! It feels like my mind and body are going elsewhere to another world, and not in the way of death! Grab on and don`t let go! I think we figured out how this device works!", Angus managed to shout as the machine made a louder noise.

Quickly and with only a bit of reluctance Mae, Catalina, Earl and Joy put a hand on the engine/teleporter and felt the same way that Angus described. It did feel like they were fully conscious yet simultaneously fading elsewhere, with their bodies never feeling so alive in all their existence. There was also temptation to let go for some reason and when Mae saw that in the human's eyes, she screamed, "At the end of everything hold on to anything!" This prompted a strange look from them, yet the trio kept their hands in place.

As the machine made an audible vibrating noise, Earl suddenly sneezed and raised both hands to cover his mouth. Quickly realizing his mistake, he apparently managed to put his hand back on at the last second.

Before a one syllable word could be said Mae, Angus, Earl, Joy and Catalina vanished with their device, leaving the empty apartment and dimension behind in total silence.

 **End of Night In The Woods (part 4)**

 **Everyone`s status:**

-Hyacinth, Onslow, Rose, Emmet, Daisy, Crabman, Randy, Blaire (in the unknown mystery world)

-Vianna, Velvet, Thomas, James, Devan [NPC], Richard, Liz (status unknown after electric blast destroyed "Deer Me" world)

-Earl, Joy, Catalina, Mae, Angus (En route to the "Nothing-verse")

-Bea, Gregg (Abducted by the main villain)

-Daddy (unknown)


	31. Intermission 3

On his ship overlooking the Earth, the Boss stepped away from the master controls after viewing the results of his recent conquest. It was impressive how much of the Finjin-verse he`d captured with the right commands and actions he`d given to the drones all on his own. 9/10 inhabitants of that world were basically frozen and in his custody. The Boss actually found himself humming happily to this fact by the time Mal approached him a minute later with more good news.

"Are my new recruits here?", "Yes they are. Right in one of the containment rooms", Mal promptly answered before leading the way to them.

The Boss followed his lackey all the way to the lower recesses of the ship and entered a room that was heavily guarded by drones with menacing spikes coating their bodies. With a simple hand wave to signal them, the boss made it through the heavy security and approached the anthro alligator and fox, who lay still unconscious in the center of the near empty room. Crouching down to examine them, the Boss then smiled behind his mask again.

"Excuse me, but are you sure these two are really the ones? I mean, look at them: they look like meaningless and soulless beings who I`m sure nobody is missing. Perhaps we can try another world with plenty of war hungry creatures? I`m sure we could get better results", Mal exclaimed, making the Boss flinch over his moment of triumph ruined.

"Seriously Mal, watch your attitude. I`m the one running this invasion show here and I say that these two will be the new Alpha and Beta commanders of my armies. Is the room for Project Collar all set up?", the Boss asked, barely able to contain his own aggressive attitude.

"Yes. The room is all set. These two will be doing anything you command them to do soon enough", Mal stated, only partially catching the full anger of his boss. He`d have been completely fearful if he`d knew the full extent of that anger.

"Good. When these two wake up, alert me and take them to the special room. I want them to be fully conscious and aware of what is happening when they join our side forever", the Boss said before leaving the room, the drones surrounding Bea and Gregg again. As the Boss went up a nearby elevator to the top of the ship again, Mal glanced at the two animals with equal sadistic thoughts on the brain.


	32. Tales from the Mystery World (vol 1)

_**Tales from the mystery world/mystery building**_

 _(These events took place during the Night In The Woods arc and afterwards)_

 **Mystery Table**

As Emmet stood outside the table room amid the dirty hallway still littered with rubble, dust and debris from the Beta Destroyers crash while talking with Onslow, he found himself feeling nervous. Glancing in the room for a brief moment, he noted everyone else was also talking amongst themselves, with the newcomers Blaire and Daisy examining the odd table in bafflement while everyone else kept a small distance from it.

"Okay Emmet, so you remember everything you discovered when we first looked at that strange bit of furniture? Nothin` slipped the noggin amid all the events that took place here recently?", Onslow asked, making Emmet`s drifting attention quickly return to him.

"Yes, I still remember everything we discovered about that table. It`s just that I feel so nervous talking to all these strangers. Most of them are from an entirely different world, and one of the inhabitants that is from our home dimension is Hyacinth", Emmet replied with dread.

Giving a supportive pat on the shoulder, Onslow told him to just relax and not fret too much, as he wasn`t giving a speech at a major award show or a live broadcast. Nodding, Emmet did his best to swallow his doubts and entered the room first. This immediately made everyone else stop chatting and gossiping as they looked at the two men, interested in what they were finally going to hear after Onslow called for the meeting not too long ago.

Daisy and Blaire backed away from the table and joined the rest of the group to give the presenters space. There, the anthro rabbit found herself being given a few nervous looks by the humans as she stood next to them, much to her ire and hidden hurt feelings. The two men from Camden also looked at Rose, Daisy and Hyacinth with a bit of distrust in their eyes, though only Daisy seemed to notice this judging by the women's facial expression.

As he stood in front of the table next to his co-speaker, Emmet noted the way everyone was slightly distrustful towards one another and hoped that any hostility would settle down soon enough. The way Blaire was still being viewed also made Emmet feel sorry for her the most, considering she was the only one of her kind while everyone else was part of a similar species.

As he took a moment to adjust his shirt collar, Emmet ended up making a mental reminder to really keep the rabbits feelings in mind when he`d ask her about his sister's whereabouts and status after the presentation was over. He had planned to ask her sooner after the fight with the drone outside, but to make a long story short, Hyacinth had gotten to her first and shut off any possibility for him to get a word in. This meant he also had to keep his neighbors impression she`d left on the animal in mind when he spoke to her, making sure he wouldn`t accidently say anything too pushy or demanding, which would probably shut Blaire off from talking to him.

Despite all the self-awareness though, he found his own lingering fears about an anthro animal and the people from Camden being in his presence (even though he knew the trio wasn`t a threat given their mostly calm nature after the fight with the drone).

Onslow cleared his throat and began to speak. "Alright, it`d probably be best not to dilly dally. Me and Emmet are going to cut right to the chase. As every one of you can tell from where you`re standing, this table is definitely not like any other ordinary table givin` the fact that it`s in a building in the middle of nowhere and is glowing. Before the rest of you showed up here, me and Emmet made closer observations and found some other details. Emmet", Onslow stated before turning to him.

After taking a deep breath, Emmet spoke next. "The table has seven odd shapes on its surface and none of them are actually carved in despite looking like it. When you slide your hand across any of the shapes, they ripple like water before returning to their original form. To demonstrate…"

After he said this line, everyone leaned forward and watched Emmet slide a hand across the table. Just like he had said, the shapes he`d made contact with did in fact ripple like water and return to their original form a few moments later. This emitted a few startled gasps from the onlookers.

After waiting a few moments to let everyone fully absorb the fact, Onslow continued by bringing up the next discovery. "The shapes all have another reason as to why they`re mysterious. Under each of them is writing and no two lettered sections are in the same language. The structure and style of each section is so different my claim is obvious when you see for yourself".

Crabman suddenly raised his hand, prompting Onslow to ask what question he had. "Did you at least identify any of the different languages at least? Is one of them in Spanish and another French for example?", "I don`t think so, considering I know a bit of both languages me self", Onslow answered, prompting everyone to approach the table again and see the faint words for themselves.

The letterings under each shape were indeed in different languages upon closer inspection, with some of them looking like a scribble drawn by a madman. Blaire and Crabman suddenly leaned towards one of the seven shapes each (Blaire's looking like a domino mask and Crabman's a crumpled and spread out piece of paper), looking like they both saw something unexpected.

Noticing their expressions first, Rose asked if something was wrong. "I actually understand what these words mean", Blaire exclaimed, seeing the random scribbles turn into actual English words from her perspective only. "Same here. What I`m seeing is the sentence, "A desire to undo the damage done in the past"", Crabman added, staring at his own clearer set of words in surprise.

The reveal prompted a lot of chatter as everyone tried to understand what was going on. When Randy looked at the set of words Crabman saw he could see the sentence clearly, though everyone else (including Blaire) only saw the same set of scribbles. Blaire`s section of writing which she claimed said "A disaster that is being attempted to remain hidden in the past" were only translatable in her eyes. The other five sections of writing still remained unsolved as to what they said no matter who looked at them.

A loud whistle from Onslow suddenly quieted everyone down when the tone in the room started becoming more frantic. "All right, no need to get too excited. It looks like the ones from the other worlds can read some of the writing. By chance do any of you know what they could be referring to?"

"Now that I think about it, the shapes writing that I can read looks like Earls karma list", Randy stated, glancing at the paper shape again and noting the similarity to the piece of paper his brother had with him for years after that day when he was hit by a car and discovered the concept of karma soon after.

Before anyone who wasn`t from Camden could ask what Randy meant, Blaire stated that she knew the shape of the domino mask on account of seeing her friend Vianna wear one most of the time. "Maybe this table has a connection with all of us somehow, to the ones who are here and elsewhere in the unknown. If the surface contains the shapes of something we can identify, it could be trying to point us in a direction to something through a message", she continued before glancing at the other five shapes for a moment.

"You may actually be onto something with that theory", Emmet stated, making Blaire nod before she and everyone else pondered and discussed what the known and unknown writing possibly meant alongside the shapes that accompanied them (except for Randy, who was trying hard to remember how to spell "pudding" again).

After the debating was done and nobody still had a clear idea about the tables writing and shapes, Emmet decided to bring up the next fact he and Onslow discovered earlier.

"Guess we`re moving on with the presentation then. Other than the domino mask and the list, it seems likely nobody knows who the other five shapes are for, though you can easily identify what they are", he said before gesturing to the other shapes. What everyone looked at again were the outline of a gun, a cup, a goat skull, a remote and a video game controller. "I must say, all seven of the shapes certainly look peculiar and random next to each other", Hyacinth commented as she looked at the gun shape with some worry in her expression.

"Feels like we`re missing pieces to this puzzle or whatever else this is. Maybe there`s someone out there from another dimension who could identify something that we can`t", Daisy suggested, making Onslow nod in agreement to the possibility.

"Is there anything else you and Emmet know about this table?", Rose asked curiously. "Not really. The two of us ran some theories such as if the table were movable and able to change it`s surface when the action was done and if there was an eight shape hidden underneath. So far, we know only what we told you", Onslow replied.

After a few minutes of silent observations on the table and some more thought over all the facts, Crabman started to leave the room. "Thanks for filling us in on what you know. I really appreciate it. Now if you`ll excuse me, I`m going to check out that destroyed drone some more. There might be something helpful in the device I didn`t find yet. If you discover anything else, let me know", he said to Onslow and Emmet before he exited.

"Well then, it`s safe to say that the meetings over for now. I`m going to grab a beer and ponder some more theories for another possible meeting in peace. You all can stay here or do whatever till then", Onslow declared before he also left, with everyone but Hyacinth, Blaire and Emmet following.

As soon as the trio were alone, Hyacinth ended up boasting, "I hope you enjoyed Onslow`s presentation Blaire. He really does have a great mind and high income in his own high class environment back home. Along with my sisters, his out of character attire and mannerisms are just the result of the series of events that happened back in our world. Now if you`ll excuse me Emmet, I`d like to talk to our hare friend some more. Perhaps she`s a famous person from where she came from and has lots more to tell me".

Emmet saw the annoyed look return to Blaire (especially when she was referred to as a hare) and decided to do something risky by coming to her rescue. "Actually Hyacinth, I was wondering if I could speak to Blaire in private. I think she mentioned to me earlier that there was something important I needed to know", he said. "Oh, that`s fine Emmet. Perhaps I could accompany you", Hyacinth stated in excitement, not hearing the part where the future talk didn`t involve her.

At this point, Emmet started to feel like he was running out of ideas fast again when some talk from Rose and Randy in the hallway got the trios attention. "So you don`t know how to spell pudding, do you?", Rose was saying, a hint of seduction in her tone. "Not really. I also don`t know how to spell a lot of things like comedian or dancing man", Randy replied, sounding like he was serious. "Well, you don`t have to be a comedian or dancer to impress me", Rose then said with more lust. "It don`t take much to impress the likes of you!", came Onlsow`s teasing shout further down the building, prompting Rose to yell at him to bug off.

Looking alarmed, Hyacinth said that her sister was probably getting tired and a bit delirious from the events she went through today and ran out to allegedly keep an eye on her well-being. "Hurry. We can stay in the back of the building outside. We`ll be alone and safe from that vile woman for a while", Emmet loudly whispered to Blaire. This made her nod and quickly follow Emmet out the room, the mystery table continuing to glow oddly with no one in its presence.

 **Life Lessons with Onslow (the sequel)**

Onslow found himself in the Crabshack interior sipping a beer. As he enjoyed the alone time, everyone else was doing their own thing around the building after he and Emmet's presentation on the mystery table worked out mostly well.

Crabman was outside examining the Beta Destroyer drone again in a similar fashion to an archeologist (minus any tools to help out), Emmet and Blaire were apparently off on their own nearby somewhere, Hyacinth was with Rose in the janitor closet room where the two men from Camden burst out of (apparently quarreling over men or something no one else here cared about) and Daisy was in the back of the kitchen looking for something good to eat after another failed attempt to "get in the mood" with her husband.

As Onslow took another sip of his beer and tried his best to savor and remember the flavor, knowing full well the supplies here would not last forever, he suddenly heard some footsteps approaching from behind him and turned to see who it was. To his surprise, the person he saw was Randy and judging by the way he looked, he had a lot of problems on his mind.

"Hello Randy. Fancying a drink?", Onslow asked as he watched Randy sit at a table close by him. Sighing, Randy shook his head no and said, "I`m just trying to wrap my head around a lot of unanswered questions I have", "Like the meaning of life and all the other hard to answer philosophy?", Onslow asked in a half joking and half serious tone. "Oh bug off Onslow…sorry. It sounded like an interesting retort when that Rose lady said it to you", Randy apologized after a brief moment of hostility.

Setting his beer down and leaning closer to the troubled man, Onslow told Randy to just tell him what was bothering him and that he could try and offer some helpful advice. "It`s a lot of things. My brother Earl still missing, the fact that I may never drive a car again and feel like a man, that rabbit creature not being magical like I first thought…I`m just worried the pressure might get to me and I`ll do something crazy like bite my own hand off. It`s already starting to look appetizing now that I think about it", Randy said before holding up his right hand and looking at it a little like it was a fancy meal.

"Now then, there`s no need to bite off your own hand. I guess that`s the first piece of advice I can give you", Onslow said with concern, making Randy look at Onslow for a moment, then his own hand again. He stopped seeing it as tasty and lowered it down, making Onslow nod with approval that some progress was already made.

"Alright, we`re off to a good start. Now, what other problem do you think is bothering you the most?", "There`s actually only one real problem now that I think about it. My brother and friend Catalina. I`m worried about them and their well-being out there in the unknown. And the crazier thing is, I`m also worried about Earls ex-wife Joy, even though she`s crazy and yells at me like a parrot or that other type of bird that can do the loud squawking noise", Randy replied before poorly imitating said noise.

Taking a few moments to think, Onslow told Randy, "I understand how you feel. My in-law Richard is also out in the unknown alongside his friend. Seeing them here safe and sound would be something I`d like, but trying to ensure that is out of my control", "So what do I do now?", Randy asked.

"Have some faith in your loved ones. Don`t tell me wife this, but I was privately worrying where she was until she literally crashed through the building on that thingamajig. Even though it was no guarantee, something told me she`d find me and everyone here one way or another, fighting her way through anyone or anything that tried to stop her. I have a similar feeling about Richard and Liz finding us soon. Do you have that feeling with your brother and everyone else?"

"Yeah. I guess I do. Mostly. I`ve seen Earl go through a lot when he was doing his karma list, and no matter what he pulled through when things got really dangerous. Plus, Catalina and Joy also went through a lot and made it like he did… You know, you have a point Onslow. I need to have faith in troubled times. Maybe all three found an army out there to help them fight any danger. They might come over one of the hills outside in glory like a hero in a comic book or war movie or something epic", Randy said, feeling a bit more confident with each sentence he spoke.

"Finally, optimism. With all the distrust in the air and the rocky start we had when we first met, it`s nice to see that at times like these", Onslow said giving Randy a pat on the back. "Yeah, I guess it is. I`m still worried, but not as much now. Thanks", Randy replied before getting up to get his own beer bottle from the back of the bar.

As he approached the bar and heard Daisy talking to herself in the back and rummaging around, Randy noticed the TV remote on the surface counter and picked it up. He then noticed the TV for the first time since he came to the mystery world, which for some reason didn`t show any signs of damage it got from the earlier attack. Feeling watching something would help for a while as well, he pressed the on button a few times but had no luck booting up a picture.

After he watched Randy struggle a bit with the remote, Onslow casually stood up and approached the bars TV. "Here`s another bit of advice in regards to the telly", he stated before leaning upward and slapping the side of the screen. Like magic, the TV turned on but showed nothing except static. "Oh nice. Too bad none of the stations in any of our worlds came with us", Onslow bemoaned before slapping the TV again, which turned it off.

As Onslow returned to his table, Randy (who had watched what Onslow did the whole time in awe) found himself approaching the TV and slapped it himself. To his dismay, the device stayed off, even with a few harder repeated efforts.

"Wow, whoever that guy is, he must be a genius or something", Randy told himself looking at Onslow for a moment before grabbing his own beer and taking a sip. Daisy suddenly emerged from the back with an oyster in hand and exclaimed, "You know Onslow, maybe you can use your smarts to help cook something tasty with me in the back. I found a lot of sea food in one of the coolers", giving off a seductive wink.

"No thanks. Besides, I`m more into bacon when it comes to meat", Onslow replied obliviously without even looking in his woman's direction, making Daisy return to the kitchen looking defeated yet again. Feeling awkward by what he`d witnessed, Randy excused himself and headed outside.

 **Like a Supervillain**

"So you`re saying that Liz managed to make it through your world without getting hurt?", Emmet asked Blaire as the duo sat outside the building, in the rear and out of sight from Hyacinth. "Yes. Me and her didn`t really chat that much during our time together, but I ended up getting an impression that she`s a fighter and survivor. She basically charged like a soldier at that drone we fought… before whatever happened that destroyed our worlds", Blaire replied, keeping a bit of an eye out for the humans nagging neighbor herself.

Emmet nodded and felt some form of relief come to him, now knowing that his sister was still alive and not alone (albeit with some company strange as his).

After Blaire and Daisy had arrived in the mystery world and the Beta Destroyer had been destroyed for good, Emmet had planned to ask the other dimension rabbit more about his sister. Unfortunately, Hyacinth had beaten him to the punch and started to have a conversation with Blaire inside the building (one that was clearly one-sided).

At first, Hyacinth wanted to know about Richard and his well-being, with Blaire assuring her that Richard was also fine for the most part. Once Hyacinth was satisfied with the answer, she then began to talk about her own fancy lifestyle back in her home world in an attempt to get the rabbit to know her. This included her fantastic son Sheridan and his many accomplishments, the famous people she met in her life and her sister Violet (with the sauna, Mercedes and room for a pony- the last part confusing Blaire a bit as to whether there was another anthro horse).

During Hyacinth and Blaire`s "chat", Emmet and everyone else tried to join one at a time, but Hyacinth was so busy trying to impress Blaire that she didn`t even seem to realize the third party or give them a chance to have a word in, to the point where said third party would leave annoyed.

Now that he thought about it, Emmet started to suspect that one of the reasons Onslow called for the presentation in the table room was to save Blaire from any further time with Hyacinth, as annoyance was starting to appear on the rabbits face the more she listened to the social climber.

Getting up and peering along the side of the building, the only people Emmet saw were Crabman (who was still scavenging parts from the Beta Destroyer) and Randy (who sat atop Onslow's car sipping a beer). Noticing his behavior, Blaire shook her head in dismay and exclaimed, "Is Hyacinth really that intimidating? Yeah, I was eager to get away from her earlier but it doesn`t mean I`m scared", "You shouldn`t underestimate her like I did that dreadful day I met the woman. She…she`s like a supervillain or something. Always knowing when I`m coming out of the house, inviting me for a candlelight supper…and don`t get me started on her singing. She likes to sing to me. She always does!", Emmet stated, nearly ranting into madness.

After calming him down, Blaire said, "I think I can handle Hyacinth. I`ve got a wild bunch of friends and family back home myself. If you met my husband James, you`d know why I`m sorta desensitized to people like your neighbor in all their wackiness", "I think your husband is more down to earth in comparison. It`s too bad he`s also out there in the unknown. I`d really like to have met the…what species was he again?", Emmet asked, happy to talk about someone else. "Skunk. Don`t worry though, his kind aren't the ones that smell. He really can be a charmer most of the time when he`s keeping his artistic fantasies in check", Blaire replied a bit saddened as she thought of him and all her other friends still missing or already captured.

Out of nowhere, Randy suddenly let out a panicked cry and got into Onslows car to hide while Crabman jumped behind the drone to take his own cover. Seeing this behavior made the rabbit and human duo look confused until they saw Hyacinth had come out and was calling for Emmet and Blaire. Before either could react, she then spotted and approached them.

"Emmet, Blaire. So nice to see you. Don`t mind my absence. I was…helping my sister Rose settle down from the madness of this isolated place. Anyways, I have good news. Daisy found a canister of tea in that…bars kitchen under a shelf. Why don`t you two come along and have a drink with me?", "Sorry Hyacinth, we were…", Emmet began before Hyacinth cut him off. "Splendid. I`ll see you both in a bit", she boasted before starting to leave.

Emmet looked at Blaire in dismay and exclaimed, "See what I mean? Like a supervillain". Blaire responded by crashing her knuckles and flexing a few muscles before saying, "Watch and learn", and approached Hyacinth, calling to her.

"Hey Hyacinth. I`m sorry to tell you this, but I`m not in the mood for tea with anyone right now", Blaire said in a normal tone. Hyacinth, who stopped and spun around taking the words in, exclaimed, "But you must. Surely you must. We have a lot of chatting I want us to catch up on", "No thanks. I`m just yearning for some alone time. Maybe later", Blaire responded unfazed.

Hyacinth looked like she had no idea how to react. Nobody ever declined having tea with her. She was so beloved and popular she had no idea why someone would turn down an opportunity to be in her presence. Upon noticing that Blaire wasn't going to budge from her decision, Hyacinth gave a faint, "Okay", and went back inside.

Crabman and Randy leaned out of cover and gave a short round of applause while Emmet looked like he couldn`t believe what he had seen. "How did you do that?", he said as Blaire retuned to him. "What can I say? Maybe I could be a supervillain myself. Anyways, I`m going to check out that machine we fought. I`ll talk to you again later", she responded before walking off towards Crabman, deciding to help him out in his salvaging task. As Emmet replied the moment in his head, the front door to the building opened again.

"Emmet, come on in! At least the two of us can have tea!", Hyacinth called. "I`ll be there", Emmet replied before realizing what he said in shock. As he stood petrified, now trying to wonder how he said yes to tea with Hyacinth again so effortlessly despite his desire not to, Randy ended up mimicking a funeral march through a long whistle. "Oh shut it!", Emmet responded in frustration before marching ruefully back to the building.


	33. Seinfeld- Part 1

_Chapter 5: The World Ending Attack_

 _Seinfeld_

In a darkly lit comedy club, the mild chatter of the audience became silenced when a comedian with a microphone named Jerry Seinfeld walked up onstage. As the spotlight shone on him and the theme song played in the background, he wasted no time getting started on his new routine.

 **Jerry:** "You wanna know what I think is the strangest thing about disaster movies? Why it`s simple: Big cities". [audience laughter] "I`m serious. Think about it, how many movies in the disaster genera do not feature a lot of major cities getting destroyed these days? It`s a clichéd trope that keeps coming up like an annoying ad in your junk mail". [audience laughter] "This happens so many times you`d wonder why the weatherman doesn`t broadcast it in-universe as part of his daily forecast. "On Monday, turn up your heaters because the earths going to tilt out of its orbit and freeze everything out into solid ice. On Tuesday there`s going to be a major earthquake that will unearth a volcano and I`d say that Wednesday there is a 50/50 shot that either alien invaders or Godzilla will rampage through the place."" [audience laughter] "Considering how expensive it is to live in a big city in real life, you`d think these places in the films would have cheap rent at least. That`s one thing I`d keep in mind when trying to outrun a tidal wave or a big meteor for the third time that mouth". [audience laughter-followed by the scene fading out]

On the crowded streets of New York City, a group of four friends walked side by side towards their favorite diner. As he stared at said diner (known as Monks) Cosmo Kramer (known as Kramer to everyone) was nearly overcome by awe. "Look at that you guys. Isn`t the place so beautiful? After all that time spent behind bars, it feels like we`re seeing all the wonders of the world combined", he said. "Personally the sight of any familiar place that isn`t the cafeteria of Latham County Prison is a welcoming one", Jerry commented.

"That`s easy for you to say. Your cell got a new coat of paint while mine didn`t during our time locked up for not helping stop that robbery. At least you got something new to see halfway into your sentence. What did I get besides dirty looks from everyone else? I mean, if I were to serve prison for literally doing nothing you`d think I deserve a cell with a new coat of paint!", George Costanza exclaimed in his usual insecure and apprehensive tone.

"What`s he talking about?", Elaine Benes asked Jerry completely baffled. "Oh it`s nothing. Some of the cells in the prison got repainted and George`s cell was overlooked by the warden. Apparently this made some of the other prisoners make fun of him", Jerry said casually.

"Hey, I deserve a jail cell with a new coat of paint. I`m a human being with dignity and with feelings", George complained, getting a few odd looks from passerby. "Zip it George. You served your sentence and all of us agreed we`d never talk of our time in prison again after we reunited", Elaine commented, already getting frustrated by his attitude.

"I will say this about Latham County, that place was brutal", Jerry quipped silently when Elaine wasn`t listening. "Oh yeah", "Definitely", George and Kramer added before Kramer suddenly stopped and squatted down, frantically untying one of his shoes.

Before any of his companions could ask what was wrong, he replied, "I think there`s a pebble in my shoe or something. You three go on inside while I get it out. I`ll catch up in a moment", and pulled off his shoe, shaking it frantically.

Without another word, the trio neared Monks wondering how much the place had changed since they`d been gone and if Morty and Helen Seinfeld were already there. Yesterday, Jerry`s parents had called saying they would be visiting from Florida and that they would like their son and his friends to come over for lunch and catch up at the place. After some hassle getting back into society (like the four friends getting their old apartments back and finding work again), they all accepted and just planned to kick back and enjoy a good meal.

The second Jerry opened the door and stepped in, he and his companions got a big, "SURPRISE!", shouted at them with a confetti blast thrown into the mix. Taken aback, the trio took a close look and saw that the café had been decorated a bit with a banner reading: **Congratulations on your release** being the prime décor behind the counter. Standing in front of the banner and behind plates of food were Jerry`s parents Helen and Morty, Uncle Leo, Georges parents Estelle and Frank and Elaine's on-again off-again boyfriend David Puddy.

"Jerry!", "How nice to see you!", Helen and Morty exclaimed happily approaching their son while Elaine walked up to Puddy, brushing by the Costanza parents as they approached George. "What happened here?", she could only say with her mouth agape. "About a week before your sentence ended, the Seinfeld's and Costanza`s got together to form a celebration. I ended up giving a bit of input myself with the food and décor, considering how much those two couples bickered with each other", Puddy exclaimed. "Get out!", Elaine exclaimed with joy before shoving Puddy playfully aside a bit. Following this, the duo then began to talk sweetly in what felt like true love.

"Jerry! Hello!", Uncle Leo exclaimed when he brushed past the three talkative Costanza`s to reach the rest of his family. "Uncle Leo! So nice to see you on the outside again. Anything happened while I was away?", Jerry asked happily. "Not much. I got some new shirts…oh yeah, and a few books on antiques. They really are interesting to look at with all their fancy decorations and detail. Some of them look like they were done by renaissance artists. Say, maybe I could help liven up your place. Get you in a trend or something", "No. No. I`m good. I`ll get my place back up in its usual glory before you know it", Jerry quickly said, worrying what Uncle Leo`s new creativity views would cause his place to look like.

Suddenly, a familiar foe emerged from the bathroom and Jerry`s face became irked when he saw who it was. "Hello Newman", he said with contempt to the portly mailman. "Hello Jerry. Mrs. Seinfeld. Mr. Seinfeld. Leo. Glad to see the so-called comedian hasn`t lost his edge. I mean, it`s not like he was living under a rock for a year and lost relevancy", Newman replied with equal contempt and vindictiveness before chuckling at his own joke.

"Uh-huh. And just why have you decided to crash this party? Don`t you have any work to do, if you even have a job at all? Or a life?", Jerry retorted. "Hey, unlike the soulless menace to society that was unmasked in all its inhuman glory a year ago, there was someone I actually cared about that went down with you by the sole aspect of guilt by association", Newman declared.

As if the moment were scripted, Kramer suddenly burst into the diner hoping on one foot, the shoe he took off outside being put back on awkwardly somehow, and looked around completely startled. "Whoa mama! Looks like we walked right into a party! Where is everyone else?", he exclaimed before he quickly greeted Newman with a wild handshake. "We rented the place out for a day from the owner to make it a private party. Wasn`t cheap, but it was worth it", Helen said before she gave Kramer a brief hug.

"Aww mom. You shouldn`t have. You already sent me all those boxes of cereal while I was in the big house", Jerry exclaimed after the hug ended and Kramer and Newman walked off together, the two friends happily talking to each other and coming up with get rich quick schemes as if no time had passed at all since the trial.

"Nonsense. After all the trouble you probably went through, a warm welcome back to the people you know and love is what you need. Come on now, why don`t we get some cake, sit at our own booth and relax", Morty exclaimed as Uncle Leo leaned over and held onto Jerry`s arm like he often did at social events.

As the Seinfeld family made their way to the counter, Helen couldn`t help but ask her son, "Are all your friends doing well?", "Why do you ask?", "You know the stories about how prisons make some criminals even worse than they were before incarceration. You still seem to be yourself but how is everyone else coping for the first time in society since last year?"

Jerry glanced over at his friends to see what they were doing as he picked up a paper plate.

Elaine and Puddy`s love they had displayed earlier had turned to a hate filled argument once again with Elaine questioning if Puddy had seen other women while she was in jail. Puddy retorted that she told him not to wait for her while she was being taken away after being found guilty. "I wasn`t being serious. Couldn`t you tell by the tone of my voice? I was so upset that I lost the case that I wasn`t watching my words", Elaine answered back as she now regretted meeting Puddy again.

Kramer and Newman were sitting by a window seat near the cash register talking about an idea the former had come up with in the big house. "It`s a device that can make you sail over tall fences. Picture this: You find a grappling point, fire at it, a rope comes out and lasso`s said grappling point and away and over you go. Boom!", Kramer stated excitedly, slapping the table with his palm at the end for emphasis. "But how do we guarantee we land safely? I mean, I`m not a cat", Newman said. "Come on Newman. Have a little faith. It`s all about being in the zone when you sail in the air. Part of the excitement in flying is knowing that you`ll land safe and sound", Kramer stated, not showing the least bit of concern with Newman's point.

As for George, his parents were wasting no time unknowingly making him feel belittled and insecure. "Thank heavens you made it out alive Georgie! I spent every night worrying someone would smash your head in while you slept!", Estelle Costanza exclaimed shrilly. "You visited me four times while I was still in jail. Made some of the other guys call me a mama's boy", George murmured, though neither parent picked this up. "Come on Estelle, my boys not a wimp! Far as I know he took over and lead a prison gang Everyone was doing his bidding as if he were the man!", Frank retorted. Estelle let out a gasp to this thought and started to look closer at George. "You didn`t get any tattoos like those other gang leaders, did you Georgie?! You know what can happen when you get older and your skin gets saggier!" Estelle then spun George around to look at his neck while Frank started to complain that compared to him, George at least had decent meals in the last twelve months, prompting the parents to bicker and shriek even more. Looking up to Jerry, George muttered a faint, "Help me" before being spun around again.

As he filled up his plate with junk food, Jerry answered his mother's question with a casual, "Nah. My friends seem to be their usual selves already", and took his mind off the past to enjoy a peaceful present and near future. Little did he and everyone at Monks realize the peace (or this level of normal behavior at least) would soon be over in less than an hour.

 **Random Alley, three city blocks away:**

The single living thing in the alley not too far away from Monks, a rat feasting on garbage, was minding its own business when a loud flash startled it and sent it scampering away. A second later Mae, Angus, Joy and Catalina all appeared out of nowhere and landed gently on the dirty ground. Quickly, everyone got up feeling both wowed and shaken by their experience.

"Yes! That was totally amazing! We`re in a new dimension", Mae exclaimed throwing her arms up in the air with excitement while Angus leaned against the wall trying to catch his breath, holding onto his teleporter device tighter than before. Next to him, Joy was wondering how the second dimension travel through an empty void was the more terrible experience while trying her hardest not to hurl. Catalina on the other hand got over the experience as if it were nothing and casually straightened her hair.

"That was as crazy as some of the stunts I`d done when I worked for Chubby`s. Never expected to do that twice in the same day. What did you think of that dimension hop Earl? Earl?", Catalina asked before noticing that Earl was nowhere in sight.

Right away, Joy and Angus quickly recovered from their aliments and the group of four looked around the alley in alarm, wondering if he`d landed behind a trashcan or dumpster in the messy environment. "Earl Hickey! You`d better come out and show your face and porn `stache this very second!", Joy shouted at the top of her lungs, getting no results.

As Angus peered behind a trashcan, a sudden set of flashback snippets popped into his mind. There was everyone in his apartment holding onto the device and ready to travel, Earl taking his hands off the teleporter to sneeze (despite being told earlier not to let go of the device), and Earl trying to touch the device again and vanishing when his hand was less than a centimeter from the surface. Even though he`d started coming with them, Angus came to a logical and dreadful conclusion as to why Earl didn`t make it here.

"He didn`t come with us", the bear said nervously, making the three females look at him in alarm. "Say what now?", Joy asked. "He wasn`t holding onto the device properly when we went to the Nothing-verse. I don`t know if this is true or not, but I`m going to guess and say he`s in yet another dimension all by himself", Angus exclaimed.

Joy let out a stunned look while Catalina gasped in disbelief. "What do we do now? Should we try to find Earl first or Bea and Gregg?", Mae asked after a moment, unsure what to do. "Better if we find our friends first Mae. We already know they`re here somewhere in this world and might not stay very long. Plus, we don`t know where Earl went exactly and we`d be wasting valuable time trying to track him now", Angus explained, making the cat nod a bit as she listened.

Joy looked ready to retort and crew out Angus for brushing her ex-husband aside in favor of his boyfriend, but Catalina stopped her. "He has a point Joy. I say we find the cat and bears friends first. With the extra help, we might find Earl along with Randy and Crabman a lot quicker", "Don`t forget everyone who was captured", Mae said, causing Catalina to add that to her plan. Swallowing her frustration, Joy reluctantly agreed with the majority but made Angus promise they`d get the search results they needed in this dimension first.

"Alright then, let's get going. Maybe we`ll find our friends around the corner", Mae optimistically stated approaching the street, only for Joy to grab her and pull her back. "Hey, what are you doing?", "Protecting you from a pierogi in the eye or worse. We don`t know who here lives in this world. Far as I know, nobody in this dimension has seen a cat, bear or human their whole life".

"I think the inhabitants of the world saw humans before. Look at that", Catalina said pointing as she saw a few humans pass by the alley from the street, none of which noticed any of the four. "You three hang back. I`m going to ask someone about the likes of our critter companions", Joy stated before stepped out from the alley and onto the street, with the remaining trio watching her nervously and hoping nothing would go astray.

The minute she got a better look at the new dimension, Joy was both amazed and scared by all the activity alongside the hustle and bustle taking place. When she`d been on her way to the dimension, she recalled not expecting to see much in the Nothing-verse. On the contrary, a lot of activity was taking place one would expect in a city, leaving her to wonder for a moment where the dimension's name actually came from.

After she managed to stop being overcome in her emotions, Joy looked around for someone to talk to and spotted two men walking past her. "Excuse me. Gotta quick question I really need to ask", Joy called out to them, hoping she didn`t end up in a world where English didn`t exist.

To her relief, the two men (known as Bob and Cedric) stopped, apparently hearing and understanding her. However, when they turned around some hostility was seen in their facial expressions. "What? What question is it that you need to ask?", Bob asked intensely. "Oh, I was just wondering if you know any animals. You know, of the anthropomorphic kind?", Joy asked, trying not to look in the direction of the alley.

Bob and Cedric looked at one another completely baffled before the former whispered to his life partner, "Do you think she`s being serious? Could be a mental escaped patient", "I`ve heard a lot of nonsense in my life but this trailer trash looking lady really takes things to a whole new level".

"Excuse me, I`m standing right in front of you. Please stop wasting my time with your insults and just tell me the answer about the animals before I go and talk to someone with an actual brain. I don`t need to waste my time with a bunch of trash talkers", Joy snapped back in her common sass.

For a moment it looked like Bob and Cedric would resort to some street violence after hearing the comment, but instead Bob let out a laugh and exclaimed, "Gotta admire her feistiness. Not too many people dare do the talk back on us like that", "Excuse me. Answer the animal question? Any anthros walking the streets?", Joy asked impatiently.

"No lady, we don`t know any anthro animals and neither does anyone else in this world. Do yourself a favor and go out more. Stop watching so many cartoons", Bob mocked before turning around and leaving. As Cedric followed, Joy waited a few moments in contemplation for them to get far enough away before ducking back into the alley, not wanting to trigger any potential curiosity into where she was going.

"So what did those two guys say Joy? We didn`t hear anything", Angus asked curiously as Joy reproached the trio. "Bad news Mae and Angus. It looks like humans are the only intelligent species that live here. No anthro bears, foxes, gators or cats to be seen outside of fiction. Me and Catalina are probably safe to walk the streets, but you two will get spotted and identified as a threat in under a minute out there", Joy said shaking her head in disappointment a bit.

"Dang it. How exactly do we all get around this city? Splitting up will make us lose track of each other", Mae exclaimed, nervous at the thought of being left by herself alongside Angus in an alien world. "And a jogger or a homeless man might pass by and spot Mae and Angus if they stay here, so leaving them behind is also a bad idea", Catalina added, prompting the four to look around for a solution.

A few moments later, Angus spotted an empty cardboard box for a refrigerator by a dumpster and his eyes lit up in excitement. "Everyone, I have an idea that just might work. Me and Mae will be able to search the city without anyone seeing us", he said. Catalina, Joy and Mae looked at each other a little confused, wondering exactly how the box would solve their problem of moving around together undetected.

Five minutes later, Catalina and Joy emerged from the alley carrying the cardboard box. "Move aside y`all! Gotta new piece of furniture that needs to be delivered!", Joy shouted to the passerby as she lead the way down the block, with Catalina bringing up the rear.

From inside the box, Mae and Angus sat back to back and stared out of their own peep holes that the cat had punctured with her claws earlier. "I gotta hand it to you Angus, this is one of your best ideas yet. With us hidden in plain sight, the four of us can search for Bea and Gregg together", Mae said while looking out, making Angus smile a bit as he thanked her for the compliment. "As long as we find those two, I`d be happy to travel anywhere cramped and slightly dark", he added.

"You know, if anthro foxes and alligators don`t live in this world either, wouldn`t Gregg and Beatrice get spotted and exposed quickly to? Wouldn`t it ruin that monster abductor his element of surprise before he springs another attack?", Catalina asked, hearing the two animals talk. "Maybe they`re hidden in plain sight like us.", Mae guessed, prompting Joy to tell her and Angus to keep quiet unless they saw someone familiar, as their chatter was starting to risk drawing unwanted attention.

Without another word, Joy and Catalina walked down the street keeping a lookout on the outside while Mae and Angus tried to spot their friends from their cover. All four had their senses and awareness at an all-time high and hoped nothing unexpected would happened until they left this world with everyone safe and sound.

At the next block, Bob and Cedric found themselves talking about Joy after they`d intimidated a random stranger into handing them their wallet. "Can you believe the sanity of that woman? Anthro animals walking the streets of New York City? Give me a break. It really was the craziest thing I ever heard", Cedric exclaimed as he pulled out a few tens from the wallet and stuffed the bills in his pocket.

"Yeah, since when will society accept that stupid concept? How will the anthro animal genera make it big? An animated movie with animals that will get a billion bucks at the box office? Some indie video games featuring them that will be a hit with critics?", Bob added with his own ridicule, prompting the two men to laugh as they walked by another alley.

Out of nowhere, a scaly hand and a furry hand grabbed the duo by the necks and pulled them out of sight into the shadows. A second later, two laser blast-esque sounds were heard before a scream could be let out by either man. The two, now frozen solid, were levitated into the sky and simply vanished a short moment later.

A third man stepped out from the ally, wearing what looked like a black business suit with a gas mask that covered up his entire face. Despite the odd mishmash getup, nobody else on the street noticed him as he talked to someone behind him.

"Alright now new Alpha and Beta, I need you to assemble all the drones in their places for the big event. We mustn't get started underprepared and unready. This place is in for quite a surprise and I want your first world conquest to go by without a problem", Mal said menacingly.

Two pairs of footsteps were heard walking away and giving commands to drones that were hidden in alleys all over the city. While the man watched with pride, he contacted someone far away.

"So tell me Mal, are our new drone leaders starting off well? You supervising them like I asked?", the Boss stated. "The answer to both questions is yes. When we`re done nobody in this dimension will be left standing", Mal answered excitedly.


	34. Seinfeld- Part 2

At Monks Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer`s "Congratulations on Getting out of Jail" party was working out as well as one would expect from the unpredictable group of people, with one crazy event after the next taking place.

Elaine and Puddy made up and apologized for their earlier hostility yet again, promising that they would not fight and break up over something trivial if things didn`t go the way they wanted. However, the duo found themselves at each other's throats and calling their relationship quits five minutes later when Elaine felt her man was taking too many potato chips at once from the snack bar and loading his paper plate with them, saying his eating habits were turning her off.

Next to her, Newman was also preoccupied loading up his plate with a ton of junk food while being thankful that he was currently single (hearing the sharp insults Elaine was giving to her-ex, not that the ones Puddy`s gave back were any politer). As he walked away to his booth ready to pig out, Newman noticed Kramer was nowhere in the building and asked Uncle Leo where he went while the old man danced to some pop songs playing on a portable radio with Helen and Morty.

"Kramer said something about this company idea he had in prison and went out to find supplies. I don`t know if he`ll come back or not though", Uncle Leo replied before doing a steady twirl. "Eh, whatever. More time to eat", Newman excitedly said as he reproached his seat, feeling that even the presence of Jerry couldn`t ruin his moment of glory.

Not far away from Newman, George managed to get away from his parents when Frank started to get into a quarrel with Estelle over the quality of the food served. After taking a piece of fried chicken and spitting it out due to the dry taste, Mr. Costanza started to make a fuss that buying only brand names were the worst idea ever and that he or someone who was actually talented at cooking should have made something. Estelle retorted by saying she and the other organizers wanted the best food for their loved ones and that there was nothing wrong with buying some well-respected brands. This small thing was something Frank didn`t let go of easily, and another bickering session started between him and his wife.

Jerry, who was observing all the action by himself off to the side, decided to come back into the social fold and approached George, who was sitting in the groups usual booth not too far away from the entrance and trying to act like he was invisible. "So, first party out of prison going well?", Jerry asked happily as he took a seat, knowing George didn`t share the same level of enthusiasm.

"It could`ve been better. I don`t know why my parents had to act up so soon. It`s embarrassing", George replied glancing insecurely at them before a frustrated Elaine came over and sat down with the men. After taking a deep breath she said, "I really hate David Puddy so much. I wish I`d never met him. You`d think he`d moved on after a year of worldwide events taking place and new entertainments being released", making George and Jerry exchange a glance that said, "Yeah right".

Deciding to veer the conversation to a more suitable topic before any more talk of Puddy could be done, Jerry asked, "Speaking of new entertainments, can you believe how many new movies, TV shows and music came out while we were away? It`s probably what Rip Van Winkle felt when he woke up after all those years of sleep", "Yeah, I know. I found myself listening to a radio station that was playing all these recent hits nearly the whole night yesterday. I couldn`t stop singing along and getting into the rhythm, even when the song made no sense. It just felt so addictive and stimulating all at once", Elaine said before doing a little "dance" from her seat, happy to move onto another topic.

As soon as he saw the terrible dancing, Jerry felt himself squirm a bit and made Elaine stop for the sake of his good spirits. If there was one thing he was sad didn`t change while he was away, it was those bad set of moves, if one could even call them that.

"Jerry, all that talk of Puddy somehow made me remember that I need a new alias when I meet pretty girls I really want to talk to. You know, if they`re out of my league or something", George suddenly said, randomly going off topic for no reason. "Does this have to do with the fact that we lost last year's case to a judge whose name happened to be Art Vandaley?", Jerry asked teasingly, recalled the infamous pseudonym he`d heard George use plenty of times before.

"You know why I`m saying this!", George said in a short outburst before speaking in a regular tone again, all while Jerry and Elaine grinned with glee at the childish display. "I know that the two of you have used creative fake names before, so I was thinking that I could take one of them for myself from here on out", "Personally, I always considered Kramer to be the master of making fake names. There was Dr. Nordstrom, H.E. Pennypacker…", Jerry began, reflecting a bit on the past.

Clapping his hands together in excitement, George exclaimed, "That`s it! H.E. Pennypacker. It`s brilliant! And get this, rather than be an importer-exporter like Art Vandelay, H.E. Pennypacker could be a volunteer secretary to a multimillion-dollar company". The last part made Jerry and Elaine shake their heads in disapproval. "I don`t think a part time secretary has the same impact as importer-exporter", Elaine commented, with Jerry agreeing. "Hey, it`s a work in progress. Surely I can think of something really creative", George said.

"George, do you really think Kramer will be okay with you using his fake name? What if he needs to be H.E. Pennypacker?", Jerry asked as he glanced back towards the door, expecting his neighbor to burst in at any moment. Giving off a scoff, George exclaimed, "I`m sure there won`t be any problems to that. He has Nordstrom and probably a dozen other names. Besides, Kramer isn`t even here and that means I can be called Pennypacker with him being none the wiser", topping it off with a smug smile.

Before any more could be said, Georges confidence vanished a moment later as he witnessed Kramer burst back into the building. The look on his face was even more alarmed, making George fear that Kramer suspected his plan already. "Hey Kramer, you should hear what George was talking about recently", Jerry said casually, making George go into full panic mode. He started to desperately signal his friends not to say anything (fearing the possible repercussions) as Kramer ran over and sat with his friends, heavily breathing.

"Everyone, you won`t believe what I saw when I was out trying to buy coconut and berry body lotion: There was this senile looking old man on a bike whizzing past me. Like…", Kramer began before mimicking a rocket with a crazy hand gesture.

"So what? A lot of old people ride bikes here. What made this guy stand out?", Elaine asked. "Well, the old man went by me and out of nowhere, he disappears. Gone. Vanished. No longer in existence. He essentially went into thin air. I`m telling you guys, this is X-Files level conspiracy here", Kramer said while shivering nervously at the thought.

"Kramer, I know you spent some time in solitary for a few antics last year, but I know you`re more mature than this. You must`ve seen the guy vanish into a crowd or behind a car", Jerry said patting his friend on the arm for a second. "No Jerry. I`m telling you the truth. Come on, I`ll take all of you to the spot where he vanished. Maybe a clue was left behind", Kramer insisted standing up.

"Kramer-", Jerry began in frustration, seeing this was going into another wild goose chase already. "Jerry, you gotta believe me and see things for yourself. It won`t take that long to convince you once you open your eyes. What I`m asking from you and everyone else is the benefit of the doubt", Kramer stated.

Shrugging, Elaine got up and said, "Okay then. Guess it couldn`t hurt to walk around a bit more today", "I`ll come to. Least I`ll get some space from my…my parents", George said glancing at them again. Frank was holding a piece of chicken in each hand and waving them around frantically mid rant while Estelle was bringing up her son again and saying this behavior would probably give him nightmares if he was seeing his father's actions up close.

Deciding it would be best not to argue at this point, Jerry ended up caving in and followed his friends outside. As they made their way to the door, George whispered in Jerrys ear, "Maybe I can have one of your alias` instead?", "Don`t push it Costanza", Jerry only replied.

 **(Outside, about a minute into the past)**

As Joy, Catalina, Mae and Angus kept searching for their missing companions in the new dimension, they found themselves turning a corner and walking down the street Monks was located on, with Joy and Catalina readjusting their grip on the box to keep it from tilting over. From inside her cover, Mae managed to spot the aforementioned eatery ahead of her and suddenly felt hungry.

"Hey Joy, do you think we can stop by that café and have a bite to eat? Maybe you or Catalina can go in and get something while the rest of us wait?", the cat asked the human through the cardboard, almost pleading. "No. Place is probably too snobby for our tastes anyway, considering how clean it looks. Now pipe down unless you see that gator or fox. We`ll grab some grub later", Joy whispered back sharply, looking around and feeling relived no one around heard anything.

As Joy and Catalina continued to carry the box towards Monks and looked around the area with neither human saying another word, Angus and Mae silently decided to swap peep holes and scooted around each other to get into position. The second Angus looked outside from his new perspective, he saw something that perplexed him. A man in a business suit and a gas mask was walking towards the middle of the nearby road, oblivious to all the stares and car horn honks he was receiving, giving off the vibe he was waiting for someone important.

Even though the city was full of sights odder than this, something inside Angus told him that the gas mask person was bad news and more dangerous than he looked. He attempted to alert his three allies as a precaution when something else happened right in front of Monks, cutting him off before he could even say a word.

As Joy stood in front of the buildings main entrance to momentarily recover from a small fumble (curtesy of a sidewalk crack), the door flung open and slammed her hard in the face. Joy found herself fall onto the box before landing on the ground while Catalina let go of her end and took a step back, alarmed and stunned by the sudden event.

As she lay on her back dazed amid some crushed cardboard, Joy heard a lot of chatter break out close by and tried to get her senses back in order. The first thing she saw clearly through her slightly blurred vision was a man offering a hand to help her up. Behind him stood three other people (two males and one female) also looking down at her.

"Excuse me, are you okay? It looks like you took a nasty hit", the help offering man said. "Jerry, she could have a cracked skull or some other severe head injury. Make sure she`s okay enough to move first", the woman next to the man said before she squatted down and examined Joys head for any sign of injury, prompting the man (Jerry) to retract his hand. A third person, a male with whacky hair, suddenly looked alarmed upon hearing this and squatted down as well, almost begging.

"I`m so sorry miss. I didn`t mean to barge right into you. Please don`t press charges and send me back to jail again", he pleaded. "Kramer, get away from her. You`re not helping Elaine", "George, just let me make sure we`re all going to be okay".

Feeling her rage return at this point alongside the annoyance of unwanted attention, Joy shoved the woman and man aside and stood up on her own with her head only throbbing slightly; her vision clear again. Catalina, who recovered from her scare, walked up next to her companion and did her best to ignore the gathering small crowd of onlookers.

"I`m okay everyone. Just move along and let me and my friend carry on with our…furniture. We got places to go", Joy said aloud. After getting a brief look at the group of four friends (who just observed her now like everyone else), Joy turned her attention to the box again expecting the mission to continue without a problem.

To her and Catalina`s alarm however, the squished end of their animal companions cover had a hole in it from the accidental fall, giving anyone outside a glance at what was potentially inside. Luckily for the two Camdemites, Mae and Angus had quickly shifted positions to stay out of sight from the opening once part of their cover was exposed, though a glance at a certain angle still had them at risk of being seen.

Unfortunately, Kramer, who`d stepped aside to get a better look at Catalina (feeling he`d seen her before somehow), stood in the right angle and noticed Mae and Angus` legs, prompting him to move forward curiously as a bunch of car horns and shouting came from the nearby street.

Quickly, Catalina move forward to block him. "What are you doing? Can`t you see we need space?", she asked nervously as Joy squatted down and tried to lift up her end of the box without tearing it up even more.

"Kramer, leave the women alone. If they don`t want our help who are we to stop them?", Jerry asked. "Jerry, I think these two are smuggling someone. I saw something alive inside the box!", Kramer exclaimed, drawing more attention to the women.

"Hey, don`t you dare accuse me of being a smuggler you creep! Back away now or else I`ll make you", Joy threatened standing up and shaking a fist at Kramer, barely able to contain her rage while Mae and Angus tried to curl up as much as they could to decrease the chances of being seen again, their hearts beating faster than ever.

As he hoped Joy could somehow defuse the situation quickly, Angus peered out of his peep hole and noticed the gas mask person. "Mae, something tells me things are about to get worse pretty quick", he quietly said, making Mae clench her fists, ready to fight again if it came to that.

Outside, George and Kramer backed away from Joy while Elaine and Jerry started to get a bit confrontational, feeling that whatever was being hidden was worth a peek. As some accusations and sharp questions/retorts filled the air between the duo and the two women (with Catalina standing in front of the hole to cover her friends) George heard more shouts from the street and looked to see what the commotion was.

"Hey Kramer, who is that guy?", George asked in confusion as he noticed the gas mask person Angus was secretly observing. Apparently, he was making signals as if he were gesturing an unknown person to come to him. "Don`t know. Could be advertising a movie as part of a publicity stunt maybe?", Kramer replied, pondering for a moment before looking at the box and two women guarding it again. He had a feeling something sinister was going on right in front of him and was determined to find out what at this point.

A moment after Kramer said the last sentence, multiple events kicked off quickly and almost simultaneously. They happened so fast back to back that nobody could give a full explanation as to what entirely happened afterwards.

What happened in order was:

 _One-_ Without warning, multiple drones came out of every nearby alley and began to fire at all living target they could detect, freezing them completely solid before having them levitate into the sky and vanish as done in the other worlds. The Gas Mask person just stood in place as the drones hovered by him, as if he wasn`t there at all.

 _Two-_ The surrounding crowd outside Monks went into panic and started dispersing, leaving Jerry, Elaine, George, Kramer, Joy and Catalina as the only ones left in front of the eatery. The four from the current dimension looked in confusion and fear at the attack, trying to wonder what was happening, while Joy and Catalina immediately went into action mode.

 _Three-_ Joy ripped the cardboard box wide open and shouted to Mae and Angus that it was time to start running for safety again, considering their cover was basically about to be blown anyway.

As they witnessed the two animals crawl out onto the sidewalk, Kramer let out a shocked cry and stumbled back at the sight of them. His three friends glanced from the drone attacks to Mae and Angus in more disbelief, trying to process that an anthro bear and cat were in front of them. Jerry managed to ask audibly to Joy, "Who are all you people?", over the ruckus, but got no reply as Joy started to lead her party down the street.

 _Four-_ As Jerry and his friends recovered from their own shock and started to run towards Monks after nearly getting hit by a blast, the other group of four stopped in surprise a couple yards away when they saw Bea and Gregg unmistakably run by them. Angus and Mae called to the duo in disbelief and excitement. When they didn`t get a reply, the Possum Springs residents weaved their way through the chaos on the street to go after them. Joy and Catalina followed not too far behind.

 _Five-_ Jerry and his friends reached the entrance to Monks as Uncle Leo burst out, accidently hitting Kramer in the face and knocking him flat on his back this time. While George and Elaine bent over to haul Kramer back to his feet, Uncle Leo shouted to his nephew that a machine burst in from the back and chased everyone but him and Newman out the way it entered.

 _Six-_ Newman burst out of Monks screaming and ran straight into a street pole, knocking him unconscious.

 _And Seven-_ A drone blast from inside Monks suddenly hit and froze Uncle Leo as Kramer finally got back up and shook off the hit. Jerry (alongside Elaine, who ran up to the entrance) tried to stop him from rising into the air while screaming "No!", but at that point it was too late. Leo hovered out of reach into the sky before vanishing. It was then that Jerry and his friends saw a frozen Helen, Morty and Puddy rise up in the air from the back and also vanish.

As Jerry and Elaine gaped in shock at what they saw, Kramer suddenly noticed a drone inside the now trashed Monks was aiming at his two friends in an attempt to also freeze them. "Jerry! Elaine! Look out!", Kramer yelled diving for the duo as the blast went towards them.

 **Prompt: Square button**

 **Pressed in time-** Quickly, Kramer managed to grab Jerry and Elaine and pulled them out of the blast zone with him. As the ice blast flew through the door and hit a nearby abandoned taxi, the trio landed on the nearby ground safely before getting up. "Kramer, you saved us", Elaine said in disbelief. "Way to go Cosmo", Jerry added, making Kramer give a quick nod before the drone inside Monks came outside, getting the trios attention.

 **Failed to press-** Kramer managed to make it to Jerry and Elaine and tackled them out of the way in the nick of time. However, he ended up landing hard headfirst on the pavement as the icy blast flew through the door and hit a nearby taxi. "Kramer? You alright?", Jerry asked as he and Elaine got up quickly while Kramer stood up a bit slower. "Yo-Yo Ma", Kramer muttered in a bit of a daze. "Oh no! It`s just like Crazy Joe Devola all over again!", Jerry exclaimed as the drone inside Monks came out, getting Elaine's attention first. **(Kramer: -10% health)**

The menacing drone that came out of Monks scanned the street in front of it and saw many of its metal allies were scattering to other areas, chasing and trying to freeze any New Yorker who managed to escape capture thus far. It then turned to its left and spotted George, who was standing by himself on the opposite side of the door from the rest of his friends.

When George noticed he was definitely detected by one of the robot attackers up close, the panic on his face increased as he yelled, "Jerry! George is in danger!". He then looked around desperately for anything or anyone to help him as the drone raising an arm and took aim squarely at Georges chest.

 **Prompt: Triangle button**

 **Pressed in time-** As the icy shot was fired, George found himself quickly side step to avoid getting hit, bumping into a nearby parked car a little as he did. He felt a bit of relief and let out a small nervous laugh when he noticed the drone did miss, but then went back to panicking when he realized the drone was ready to fire again.

 **Failed to press-** The drone fired and managed to hit George as it intended. George, in turn, found himself flying back and crashed into a nearby parked car, rolling onto the ground in a bit of pain. As he quickly got up and looked at the foe again, he muttered a dreaded, "Oh no", upon seeing the drone was ready to take the next shot at him immediately. **(George: -10% health)**

However, before the drone could fire at George again, a loud feminine shout distracted it and made it spin around. The second he noticed he was no longer a main target, George saw an opportunity and ran into the street where Jerry and Kramer had also fled, trying to avoid another chasing drone that approached them a moment ago and nearly froze them while their own backs were turned to it.

The drone that attacked Monks looked directly at Elaine, who flexed her arms and seemed eager for a fight. "Bring it on tin head!", she declared before charging, prompting the drone to raise its arm to fire.

 **Prompt: X button**

 **Pressed in time-** Before the drone could take a shot, Elaine successfully rammed into it. She then did her typical "get out" push while the machine was caught off guard. The drone hit the same car George came into contact with earlier and nearly hit the ground, prompting Elaine to let out a victory cheer. However, her excitement faded when she saw the drone get up and fire at her. Elaine evaded and ran into the streets after her friends with the now angrier drone at her heels.

 **Failed to press-** Before Elaine's fist could make contact, the drone opted not to fire at the last second and instead swung its arm like a baseball bat, sending the woman sliding into the street. Quickly, Elaine got up surprised she managed to survive uninjured, though her excitement was short lived when she noticed the drone start to go after her for a real shot this time. This made Elaine decide not to try and attack again, opting to run and find her friends for help instead. **(Elaine: -10% health)**

Weaving her way around some of the chaos, Elaine managed to reach her friends and ran alongside them as three drones were now chasing and firing the guys. "Hey Elaine, how did your fight back there turn out?", Jerry asked glancing behind him as he and his companions basically ran in circles. "Didn`t go as I`d hoped. Whatever these things are, they`re tougher than anything I`ve encountered in my life", Elaine stated before ducking to evade a blast.

Jerry suddenly caught a glance of Mae and Angus alongside their human companions. That group of four were busy taking out a few of the drones with some punches and kicks, all so they could reach Bea and Gregg who were not so far from the Gas Mask guy. Seeing the way the drones went down inspired Jerry to make a stand.

Stopping, Jerry spun around and approached the three chasing drones, looking ready to take them all at once. His three friends also stopped running for a moment to see what exactly he was doing. They called out to him, but he didn`t reply.

Without hesitating, the comedian neared his targets and tried to do the same well timed moves he saw earlier from the other group with his own enemies. He hoped things wouldn`t go wrong as he threw the first punch.

 **Prompt: Triangle button**

 **Pressed in time-** To Jerrys surprise, he managed to perfectly hit one of the drones and sent it flying back a bit. However, he was forced to retreat after getting a pair of close calls from the other two drones. "Jerry, what were you doing?!", Kramer exclaimed as the group started moving in near circles together again. "I thought I could take those things. There`s too many for one person!", Jerry replied in frustration.

 **Failed to press-** Unfortunately for Jerry, the punch was blocked by one of the drones. Before he could try again, the comedian was then rammed back towards his friends by the other two drones. Thankfully, they caught him before he hit the ground and started to go back in running around in circles with the pursuit as if the earlier event didn`t even happened. "Jerry, what were you doing back there?!", Kramer exclaimed. "I thought I could take those things. They`re too fast for one person!", Jerry replied in frustration.

Hearing Jerrys words suddenly made Elaine realize something. "Wait a minute, what if all four of us take on those drones together?!", "Are you insane Elaine!? We`ll get frozen like everyone else!", George exclaimed, not wanting to even imagine going into a fight as he looked up and saw many frozen victims disappear into the sky.

"We can`t run forever! We have to do it or die! What will it be!?", Elaine demanded. "I don`t plan on dying today or any day! I`m in!", Kramer declared. "Same here. What about you George!?", Jerry asked. "Well, now that I think about it, we might stand a chance. If you factor in the odds of me getting injured…", George began, trying not to give a direct answer.

"George! Yes or no?!", Jerry shouted. "Okay! Yes! I say yes that we go and fight! Are you happy!?", George exclaimed in frustration before stopping with everyone and facing the drones again. Apparently, the number of perusing drones had grown to five, though that barely stopped the friends as they all made an awkward martial arts pose, ready to strike.

 **Fight 5-1:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Jerry**

 **-George**

 **-Elaine**

 **-Kramer**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-5 Freeze drones**

 _After the fight:_

Once the five drones were defeated, Jerry and his friends looked down at their destroyed foes in disbelief. Kramer quickly broke the silence by muttering, "Got `em", with excitement.

"Okay, we won. I say we get back to my apartment and wait this ordeal out", Jerry suggested as he noted the street was mostly cleared with every human and drone going elsewhere, giving him a good chance of slipping away undetected.

However, before George, Elaine or Kramer could say anything, four icy blasts were fired in a row behind them and froze their legs to the ground, making them unable to move. "Ah! We`re stuck! We`re stuck!", George shrieked as he tried to hop out of his restraint with no luck. "We know that George! Someone help!", Elaine responded as she, Kramer and Jerry also tried to pull themselves free, with no luck.

A set of slow claps were heard behind the four, making them stop and listen. "Well. This is convenient. It looks like we have a captive audience…and a few more people to help lead this world to its doom", a voice said.

Two drones suddenly hovered over to the group, though instead of freezing them they picked up two humans each and turned them around. As they were set down, the four found themselves facing the gas mask guy with Bea and Gregg standing obediently behind him, grinning at their predicament.


	35. Seinfeld- Part 3

**(Right before and during the time the Seinfeld characters were fighting):**

The moment Mae and Angus saw their missing companions run by them on the chaotic drone infested street, they both stopped and called out in excitement and disbelief. They`d never imagined finding their missing friends at a time like this (running for their lives in another attack with their cover now exposed), but it was no mistake who the cat and bear had seen.

When the alligator and fox didn`t reply to the shouting and kept running (possibly from the surrounding danger), Angus and Mae both went into the street after them and evaded all the attacking drones. Glancing behind her for a second, Mae saw Catalina and Joy follow her and felt a bit more confident about the chances of surviving.

As the group of four weaved their way through the danger and had a few close calls, Angus noticed his boyfriend was approaching the gas mask person, who was standing casually in the middle of all the chaos and unnoticed by all the drones, with none of them close to him. "Bug! Look out! Get away from him!", the bear shouted in panic. "Beatrice! What are you doing?", Mae also screamed, noticing her friend and Gregg stop in front of the ominous man.

Before Angus and Mae got to their friends and the man, Catalina and Joy suddenly grabbed their animal allies and held them back. "Joy! What the eff are you doing?", Mae exclaimed struggling in the human's grip while Angus ordered Catalina to let him go urgently. "Wait a minute kitty cat and teddy bear. Somethings wrong with what I`m seeing. Looks like your friends are having a conversation with that creep or something", Joy replied with concern.

Angus and Mae both stopped resisting and suddenly noticed some details they didn`t spot earlier. Rather than their usual attire, Bea and Gregg were wearing what could best be described as dark steampunk armor. And as Joy pointed out earlier they appeared to be talking to the gas mask person casually, giving a report of how many inhabitants per dimension were already captured.

"I gotta hand it to you two, Project Collar came out perfectly. You`re both doing an even better job than those shitty predecessors of your", the Gas Mask Man, a.k.a Mal, said petting the animals in front of him on the heads. Apparently, he heard that some big results of other conquests taking place simultaneously in other dimensions were working in his boss's favor. Bea and Gregg grinned in reply, equally happy about their results.

A moment after he spoke, Mal glanced ahead a little and spotted Joy, Catalina and their own animal companions, who stopped struggling at this point. After letting out a surprised cry, Mal exclaimed, "How the hell did you all get here!? I know there were reports of other inhabitants in other dimensions, but to see it with my own eyes…", "Shut up and hand our friends back! If you don`t, I`ll make you suffer!", Mae quickly threatened, managing to sound more intimidating than she expected.

As he watched the feline and her companions all start to look more determined, the sense of intimidation left Mal and he let out a menacing grin from behind his mask. "I wouldn`t count on all of you hurting me. Not while the new Alpha and Beta leaders of the drone armies are in my presence", he said before snapping his fingers and causing Bea and Gregg to spin around quickly.

When Angus and Mae got a good look at their two friends, their aggression faded and shock took over. "Oh snap. This doesn't look right", Joy exclaimed as she took a step back, now being the one in fear with Catalina not being any better in terms of courage.

At first glance, it looked like Bea and Gregg were their normal selves outside of the aforementioned attire. However, the personality vibe they gave didn`t match the individuals the other small town residents were familiar with and their eyes now lacked their pupils and iris`, being replaced by a glowing shade of grey that occasionally flickered. The final odd thing was that the duo both wore something strange outside their new wardrobes.

What Bea and Gregg wore was a strange metal collar fastened around their necks, emitting faint lights beeping in a specific pattern. A strange headband was also tightly hugging both their foreheads, acting like a piece of small machinery in a similar fashion to the collars.

As he examined Angus` now worried expression, a sadistic grin appeared on Gregg`s face. "What`s the matter? Your mother every teach you it`s rude to stare at strangers?", he taunted in a voice that sounded soulless and robotic. "You can see we are no longer the worthless creatures we once were. Now, we are a force to be reckoned with and all who oppose us will eventually die", Bea added equally menacing in the same tone, scaring the four enough to make them shiver.

"What did you do to them? I`ve never met those two before in person, yet I know they`re not like this", Catalina managed to ask first, prompting Mal, Gregg and Bea to let out an evil laugh.

"Well, since you were so desperate to ask, let's just say that some technology I tinkered with in the past that allows control over one's mind is in full swing on these two`s nogins. They didn`t remember who they were once their initiation to my side was completed. Now their once empty heads are basically controlling dozens of armies with rapid commands from those headbands while also actively partaking their own conquering. Oh, and they do anything else I want from this moment on thanks to the collars. That`s the most important thing", Mal explained patting Gregg and Bea on the back, sounding like he`d won an award. Joy, Catalina, Angus and Mae looked more terrified upon hearing this, forgetting everything else around them as most of the drones went elsewhere to attack.

After she managed to fully absolve the facts, Mae ignored the common sense within her and approached Bea. "Bea! Please, if you can hear me you need to fight whatever that collar and headband is doing to you! We can take you back home and get those devices off!", she desperately pleaded, prompting Angus to approach Gregg in a similar fashion, reaching for the two mind control devices his boyfriend had on him.

Without hesitating, Mal quickly whispered an order to Bea and Gregg. He then took a step back and watched as his new commanders of the drone armies grabbed the pair of foes in front of them before flinging them into Joy and Catalina as hard as they could and sending them to the ground in a heap.

"Well, this is entertaining and all, but I must get back to business soon. Maybe I can focus on all of you for one more minute", Mal gloated, looking down on the pile of the four defeated Camden/Possum Springs residents before signaling one of the remaining nearby drones.

Joy, Catalina, Mae and Angus attempted to get up, but a drone appeared and hovered ominously over them. As it did, it pointed its weaponized arm at them and looked like it would freeze them. However, the drone didn`t fire and instead guarded the four, waiting for anyone in front of it to make a move under orders Mal made Bea and Gregg give out.

Before he could find a way to antagonize the four a bit more, Mal heard what sounded like a loud crash over all the chaos and looked up just in time to see Jerry, Kramer, George and Elaine win their fight against the five drones. "I`ll get back to you other dimension beings in a bit. Gregg, Bea, keep those nobodies up ahead in place and follow me", Mal ordered. A second after he gave said order, Bea and Gregg both pulled out what looked like a pistol from their new uniforms and fired two icy shots each, freezing the other group of humans by the legs.

As Mal approached the other group of four with his loyal allies, he overheard George scream in panic followed by Elaine retorting something to him. After giving a slow handclap to them and mentioning he had a captive audience to help out, Mal spotted two nearby drones and had them turn the four New Yorkers to face him.

The moment Jerry, Elaine, George and Kramer all faced Mal in his creepy gas mask, a look of fear overcame them. Kramer flinched and tried to get back, only to find himself moving the upper part of his body awkwardly as if he almost fell down while in place. George mumbled in fear and tried to appear as small as he could while Elaine managed to lean over and partially hug Jerry.

"Looks like you`re scared of me. Very good. Very convenient. I like that in my victims", Mal said, pleased by the reactions he got.

"Big talk from the man with a clichéd mask", George tried to say to himself as he looked at Bea and Gregg and then at the other group of four on the ground not far away, still held hostage and unable to move by their own guard drone.

"Excuse me, what did you say? Was that an insult you gave me?", Mal asked getting in Georges face and making him yelp with fear again.

"He said the mask of yours is a cliché. And I gotta admit, George here has a constructive criticism I can`t argue with. I mean, look at all your minions. Whoever that alligator and fox are, they got the real deal in terms of making a frightening first impression compared to you. And those four henchmen on the ground look more of a menace in their dollar store clothing than you do in a Wall Street outfit", Kramer exclaimed as if he were seriously evaluating the situation.

As he spoke, George tried to signal him to zip it once he noticed Bea and Gregg started to look angrier while Joy looked stunned by Kramer's own comments at her. "Excuse me funny man, my outfit is worth at least twenty dollars and me and my buddies here ain`t working with this fancy shmancy smartass as henchmen", she retorted.

Feeling like things were starting to get off topic, Mal cleared his throat and attempted to get the conversation back to him as the Nothing-verse residents started to talk about what Joy said.

"Well Kramer, that mystery lady has a point about her outfits. They clearly didn`t come from a dollar store. I mean, do they even sell clothing in dollar stores?", Jerry asked. "How should you know? You never once shopped at a dollar store in your whole life because you find those places not sanitized enough for your liking", Elaine replied, making Jerry say there was nothing good in a dollar store to begin with. "I shop at Dollar Stores a lot. Believe me Jerry, they have some nice stuff", Kramer replied, not taking his eyes off Bea and Gregg as he noticed they looked ready to attack. "Same here. Not that I do it out of necessity", George replied, not making eye contact with anyone at the last part.

As Mal raised his voice and kept trying to get everyone to notice him again, the animal/human group behind him also started to talk. "Are they seriously talking about Dollar stores at a time like this? What`s next? They`ll talk about a song they heard on the radio or from some politician?", Catalina exclaimed. "I don`t know. Why don`t we ask them? Hey guys, what else you planning to randomly talk about?!", Joy hollered while Mae and Angus kept looking at their friends and fruitlessly called out to resist Mals orders and help them. Bea and Gregg kept their backs on them and continued to glare menacingly at the residents of the Nothing-verse in front of them.

"Oh, I was thinking about asking this creep to unfreeze us and give me back my family members. I mean, my Uncle Leo just got interested in antique furniture and it would be a shame if he disappeared before he could really get a collection going", Jerry replied to Joy while giving Mal a glare.

"Yeah, and I`d like for him to give me back my boyfriend Puddy", Elaine added also glaring at Mal, Gregg and Bea. "Wait a minute, I thought you broke up with him for taking all those chips? Are you starting the relationship again with him not around? Can you do that even?", George asked. "Stay out of my relationship George. This is between me and whoever this creep is", Elaine retorted.

"Excuse me, is nobody looking at the obvious oddity here? There`s anthro animals in front of us. It`s like a big conspiracy or something! They must be involved in all this somehow", Kramer urgently said looking at the four Possum Springs residents, prompting his friends to start talking about them next. If he had any visible hair, Mal would have started to pull it with all the rage he felt. 

Snapping his fingers, Mal had his drone leaders whack Jerry and his friends once across the head each to make them stop talking. Mae and Angus nearly got up in an attempt to stop their friends from doing the deed, but two whacks from the drone guarding them had them back on the ground. As Catalina slightly comforted her hurt companions, Joy looked at the drone keeping her literally down and started to come up with a plan to take it out fast.

"There, now that I have your full attention again, I can ask about some really important stuff. Which of you guys know the city very well, like as in tour guide well?", Mal asked Jerry and his friends once they all quieted down and focused on him. "Wait, why do you wanna know that?", Jerry asked, caught off guard by the random question.

"Oh, simple. I was hoping I could give some of the mind control technology these beings are wearing a real test on locals from this world. From what I can recall, the collars can manipulate the minds of six individuals at a time to do their, or to be specific, my bidding. If none of you fit the bill, like I consider those losers behind me already, I`ll freeze you alive and look elsewhere for some worldly assistance", Mal stated.

"Aww, but I don`t wanna be frozen alive", Jerry pouted as Elaine looked alarmed the most by the other stuff Mal said. "Wait a second. Mind control device? So the two creatures helping you aren`t with you willingly?", she asked stunned, making Mal repeat what she said in a mocking tone. "Who cares if they are? The point is, we`re taking this dimension down like I did to the ones those four belong to", Mal replied gesturing at the other group, causing more confusion to form amid Jerry and his friends.

"Other dimensions? Can someone explain to me what is going on here, as in the whole picture?", Jerry asked glancing over towards Joy and Catalina, feeling they had the best explanation to all this somehow.

However, before the women or their animals could speak, Mal exclaimed, "You know what Alpha and Beta, just take the lady and the bald fat guy. It feels like I`m wasting time here and they look like they can give a grand tour to the outs of the city".

Without a word, Bea and Greggs mind control collars glowed brighter as they stepped forward and grabbed Elaine and George by the foreheads (Bea with George and Gregg with Elaine). As the two humans screamed in agony with electricity coursing through them, Kramer and Jerry watched in horror at what their friends were going through, trying to lean over to stop Gregg and Bea with the two drones behind them holding them back.

Mae, Angus, Catalina and Joy also gave an equally horrified expression to Mals actions, not expecting something this violent to come out of the talk. Mae looked ready to make a move again, but Catalina held her down with a hand on her back, saying another whack in the head would not be worth the risk.

As the ice broke around their legs from all the violent twitching the humans did, Bea and Gregg let go of Elaine and Georges heads and let them fall to their knees in front of them, seemingly done with their task.

As the two humans in front of the new Alpha and Beta slowly stood up, Jerry and Kramer saw that George and Elaine both had a transparent hologram of a collar around their necks with their eyes also an empty bare grey color. "Elaine! George! No!", "Yikes! What did you do to them!?", Jerry and Kramer called reaching out to their friends as they walked out of reach with Bea and Gregg.

Ignoring everyone else's cries, Mal reached into his pocket and gave Elaine and George a freeze pistol similar to the ones Bea and Gregg carried.

"All right then new assistants and bodyguards, I want you both to lead my Alpha and Beta around and capture any survivors you see. If you meet a lot of resistance, your new leaders can potentially brainwash anyone around into helping the cause too. But don`t worry, because unlike the gator and fox I`ll let you go once you`re out of the city and in the presence of the dimension eraser (which will erase this world from existence), where you`ll be frozen like everyone else. Got it?", Mal asked. "Yes sir!", Elaine and George replied confidently like soldiers.

"Good. Alpha, take the man with you down that street. Beta, take the lady with you the opposite direction. This`ll help cover more ground and catch more targets", Mal ordered Bea and Gregg. The two animals nodded and started to walk down the street in opposite directions with their human companion leading the way, intending to protect their commander at all cost.

As Mal looked at the remaining six, Catalina shouted, "Basterdo! What are you going to do to us? Freeze us like you cowardly did to everyone else?!", "Yes, but I`m not interested in seeing you get taken down like all the other idiots from your worlds. Now that I think about it, another dimension resident being here without my boss's approval is probably the result of a fluke, and I got bigger things to deal with at HQ. At this point with all the action I`ve seen, the gator and fox can go about their own conquering ways without me being their babysitter. I`m sure I can monitor them in the comforts of my fancy exotic room. Drones, ice these suckers", Mal gloated as he pulled out a weird device from his uniform and hit a button.

In the blink of an eye, Mal vanished from the dimension. Once he did, this prompted Joy to make her planned move. Before the guard drone could freeze her and her group, Joy pounced upward and threw multiple hard punches at the machine without stopping, giving it a lot of damage in a short span of time.

As Joy continued to show no mercy to the machine, her companions got up and saw the two other drones raise their arms at Jerry and Kramer, intending to finish them off as their victims screamed helplessly in terror, fighting more than ever to free their frozen legs.

Catalina, Mae and Angus all ran forward and attacked the other two drones. As they did, Angus and Mae accidently bumped into Jerry and Kramer and knocked them over. The ice around their legs shattered once they made contact with the ground, freeing them. "Whoa. That was a close one!", Kramer exclaimed getting up with his legs wobbling slightly.

As the other group wrapped up defeating the three drones and Kramer tried to get a sense of feeling back in his legs, Jerry looked down one end of the street and saw Elaine and Gregg turn a corner and vanish. He then looked the other direction and saw Bea and George continue their own way down the block, firing their weapons at any human that passed them and freezing them entirely.

Mae did the final blow with to two drones in her fight and looked towards Bea. "Hang in there Beabea! I`m coming to save you!", she shouted. "I`ll go with you. Too dangerous to try and save her alone", Catalina said before she and the feline started to run after the alligator.

"Wait! What about Gregg!?", Angus exclaimed as he ran over to the cardboard box and retrieved his dimension teleporter device, not taking his eyes off the direction his boyfriend went. Joy approached him covered in bits of machine pieces, her own short fight also won. "I`ll stick with you. Don`t think being left alone is a good thing for you either", she replied before leading the way after the fox.

As Angus followed Joy, Kramer screamed to both split up parties, "What about me and Jerry!? We can`t just stay here!" Without thinking, Mae and Angus looked back and signaled him and Jerry to follow them before continuing to run forward after their mesmerized companions.

"Oh man. Jerry, I have no idea where to go! What do I do? Do I help George or Elaine?", Kramer exclaimed grabbing Jerry by his shirt and shaking him in a state of panic. "Kramer, calm down and let me think. We have two people we know in trouble meaning we both go one way each", Jerry said, his voice also in a panic as he shoved Kramer off him.

"Right, Right. Who do you wanna go after? I`ll try to save whoever you didn`t pick", Kramer exclaimed, making Jerry start to think what the right call was as he restraightened his shirt.

 _ **Scene description:**_ _Time seems to freeze from Jerrys perspective. As it cuts from him pondering Kramers question, the focus jumps to Bea and George going in their direction down the street with Mae and Catalina chasing them. After a few moments the scene then shifts to Gregg and Elaine heading in their direction with Angus and Joy trying to catch up to them._

 _After this, the scene then cuts back to Jerry as two button prompts appear on either side of him._

 **Who do you (the reader/player) want Jerry to go after?**

 **Option A:** _ **Go after Bea and George (with Mae and Catalina becoming Jerrys allies)**_

 **Or**

 **Option B:** _ **Go after Gregg and Elaine (with Angus and Joy becoming Jerrys allies)**_

 _Authors note: Two different segments will be posted side by side that explore both paths on the way out of the city with different foes to fight and different dialogue Jerry will have with the duo he aids._


	36. Seinfeld- Part 4 (BeaGeorge route)

**Option A:**

 **Jerry goes after Bea and George (with Mae and Catalina as his allies)**

Out of nowhere, the answer ended up coming to Jerry. "Kramer, you go help Elaine! I`ll try and save George!", he said before he started running down the street. "Wait, why did you pick George over Elaine!?", Kramer exclaimed as he awkwardly started running in the opposite direction. "I dunno! Maybe it`s a bros first instinct!?", Jerry called back before evading a drone and returning all his focus to what was in front of him.

Down the block, Jerrys brainwashed friend and the strange anthro alligator were making steady progress with their conquering task. Anyone who neared them got frozen solid as the duo persevered towards the next block.Their surrounding drone allies were also firing and capturing everyone close to them, keeping Mae and Catalina from reaching their own friend directly.

The sight of all the frozen people levitating into the sky prompted Jerry to slow down and realize it was best not to rush right into things at this point. A moment later he also realized he was directly approaching the cat and her mysterious Hispanic human companion.

Ahead of Jerry, Mae found herself hitting a drone with a box from a fruit stand, struggling to put it down for good while Catalina was busy trying to take out another drone (one that wouldn`t back down easily by the looks of it).

Glancing ahead as she threw a few more punches at another drone, Mae saw Bea walking further away from her and let out a frustrated groan. At the rate she was moving through the surrounding foes, the cat felt she was going to lose track of her friend at any moment (and possibly forever).

While Mae was partially distracted, one of the drones that was close by nearly hit the feline with a sudden surprise attack. Thankfully Jerry appeared at the last second, pulling the cat out of harm's way before the attack could smash her face in. As Mae yelped in surprise from the close call and sudden rescue, Jerry then made his way over to Catalina. Together, the two humans took down the drone Catalina was fighting with several well timed punches before Jerry signaled the two females to follow him.

As Mae and Catalina followed Jerry forward into the street again, the former glanced at him and asked, "Who are you? I think I heard your name before earlier, though not clear enough", "I`m Jerry. Jerry Seinfeld. Small time comedian going through some big trouble. Also, I`m someone who can help you two get around this place", Jerry commented zigzagging his way down the street and dodging a car that sped by.

"Mae, you think we should accept this guy's help? Does he seem trustworthy?", Catalina asked before she slid on her knees for a moment to dodge a swipe attack from one of the drones. "Well, he was part of the group that almost directly blew our cover back at the café, so there`s that to consider Catalina. I honestly don`t know if we should stick with him in the long run", Mae replied.

"Wait, you mean you don`t think you can count on me? I`m a trustworthy guy. Really! I was just curious what your friend and the other lady were doing. Plus, that guy your alligator friend brainwashed is a friend of mine I`m trying to save", Jerry exclaimed as he stopped to kick aside two drones that hovered down in front of him.

Mae looked from Jerry to Catalina to Bea (who was nearing what looked like a soup kitchen up ahead) in order as she evaded two more attacks before saying, "Catalina, how about we give him the benefit of the doubt? If he leads us astray once, we cut ties with him", "Sounds fair to me. Though considering how fast we`re moving, we`ll get to your friend in no time", Catalina called back as she lead the group back to the sidewalk near a mostly deserted section of the street. At this point, a lot of the drones that had surrounded Bea earlier had went their own way on her orders.

Jerry looked ready to complain but a glance from the felines "nightmare eyes" made him feel it seem best not to argue. After all, why complicate matters with George close by?

When Mae was less than a hundred feet from her friend, she called out her name again. To her surprise, the alligator apparently heard her this time and stopped. She and George spun around looking enraged, which made the trio stop where they were as well.

"So, you think you can hunt me down and destroy me like my predecessor?! Typical worthless beings. Always aiming too high with your foolish so called heroics", Bea angrily said in her robotic tone again, though nobody was as scared by it as they were last time.

"Bea, listen to me. You need to get that mind control thing around your head and neck off. Whoever is doing all this chaos is making you do their dirty work. Just trust me and let me come closer and I`ll free you", Mae pleaded as she looked around before moving forward carefully.

Out of nowhere, Bea raised a hand with red sparks traversing down the armor she wore. "Get out of the way! She`s going to hit us!", Jerry yelled as he got out of the strike zone with Catalina. Mae took a moment longer to realize the surprise attack was coming and saw what looked like a red laser come towards her from the alligator's hand. Quickly, the feline attempted to mimic the humans and dive out of the way.

 **Prompt: Triangle button**

 **Pressed in time:** To Jerry and Catalina`s surprise, Mae managed to roll out of the lasers way like an action star. The fired blast flew past her and down the street, missing her by what felt like a mile. Quickly, the feline then jumped to her feet and tried to approach Bea again, only to back off when her friend let out a frustrated growl and fired a few icy blasts at her with her freeze pistol.

 **Failed to press:** Mae managed to get out of the way in time, with the blast flying harmlessly by her and down the street. However, she landed funny on the ground and let out a cry upon partially dislocating her shoulder. "Mae! Hang in there!", Catalina yelled sprinting to the feline as Bea let out a frustrated growl and pulled out her freeze pistol. She fired at the two women but missed as Catalina quickly readjusted Mae`s shoulder and got out of harm's way with her. **(Mae: -5% health)**

As Jerry tried to come up with his own way to get closer to George, he couldn`t help but glance back a bit and wonder where Beas laser attack ended up. He asked Catalina this question as he ducked to avoid getting his head hit by one of the alligators shots. "Don`t know why you`re concerned. I doubt that thing will affect us anymore anyway", Catalina only replied.

Back in front of Monks, Newman stirred a bit and slowly sat up rubbing his head. As he tried to wonder what had just happened and what was going on around him in regards to the chaos, he suddenly noticed a red laser bounce off some shattered store windows and come his way. "What the heck?", he managed to exclaim before the laser flew behind him, hit the front window to Monks and then flew back and hit him.

Newman suddenly felt like he was being electrocuted and let out a scream as red sparks coursed through his body. As he fell to the ground and started twitching, an ominous hologram of a collar started to appear on his neck similar to the one George had on him.

Back in front of the soup kitchen Jerry and his new team were at, the trio had hurriedly decided to take down Bea and George together at once. As they spread out and tried to get into place, Bea and George continued firing more blasts at them and kept missing. "Damn it! Looks like these specimens are too tricky to take down with a simple attack. Can`t spare any drones due to a fraction in this area already destroyed….", Bea loudly murmured as she stopped firing, trying to process another solution in her head with the technology rapidly working.

Suddenly, the door to the soup kitchen opened and a female in a chef uniform stepped out to look around. This got Bea`s full attention right away, prompting her to approach. The chef let out a scream at the sight of the anthro alligator and slammed the door shut. Bea turned back and said, "Keep these three busy while I get us some back up", to George before she then started to break down said door with her fists.

George gave a nod and faced the three foes in front of him, making Jerry let out a laugh and lower his guard a bit. "What the eff are you doing Jerry? It looks like you`re backing down from a dangerous attack already!", Mae exclaimed, frustrated the trios plan was falling apart seconds before they could kick it off.

"Come on Mae, if you got to know George you`d find out he couldn`t boldly threaten a fly. One time this woman he was dating…", Jerry began before George let out an ominous war cry that chilled him to the bone.

Before Jerry could process what he`d heard, George sprinted forward and managed to ram into Mae, sending her on her back. "George is getting upset!", George managed to yell as he then did what looked like a complex kung fu flip in the air and sent Catalina flying into the doorframe of the building next to the soup kitchen.

George set his sights on Jerry next, charging towards him fast with the intent to hit as hard as he could. Jerry let out a startled cry at his friend's aggression and tried to think what his next move should be as the attack closed in on him.

 **Prompt: Circle button**

 **Pressed in time:** Deciding to take a simple approach, Jerry ended up dashing out of the way from Georges fists and then spun around to kick him as hard as he could in the leg. George found himself land on the ground but then jumped back onto his feet his gusto, intending to try and attack again as many times possible. However, Mae and Catalina (who recovered from the hits they took earlier) appeared behind him, grabbed him by the shoulder and shoved him back towards the soup kitchen.

 **Failed to press:** Before Jerry could come up with an idea however, George rammed into him and punched him twice in the face. Frantically, Jerry did his best to defend any more attacks while frantically screaming at his friend to wake up and stop what he was doing. Luckily, Mae and Catalina (who recovered from the hits they took earlier) came up from behind George and pulled him away from Jerry. As she and her companion flung George back towards the soup kitchen, Catalina asked Jerry if he was okay. "A little dazed, but I`ve dealt with worst headaches from him. Believe me", Jerry replied. **(Jerry: -10% health)**

Before George could attack again, a shout from Bea in the soup kitchen ordered him to stand down. George obeyed and lowered his fists as Bea stepped out grinning evilly at the trio facing her.

"Me and my guide are leaving this place. You three on the other hand can die a violent death as far as I care", she said as she walked over to George.

"Bea, what did you do in there?", Mae asked glancing nervously at the kitchen as her friend and George turned around and kept walking. Out of nowhere, an angry head chef and two of his kitchen staff emerged from the establishment throwing knives at the group. Like George, they had a transparent collar around their necks and their eyes glowed a soulless grey color.

As Jerry evaded some of the blades, his eyes lit up when he saw exactly which head chef was attacking him. "Oh no. The Soup Nazi!", he exclaimed seeing the familiar infamous old cook who`d testified against him last year. Catalina and Mae looked at him in surprise after they dodged the last knife.

"The soup what? Where does anyone even get a name like that?", Mae exclaimed as the aforementioned head chef picked up a pan he`d taken with him outside. "No soup for you!", he angrily stated as he aimed at Catalina. Before Catalina could even blink, the pan was thrown full force at her face.

 **Prompt: Triangle button**

 **Pressed in time:** Quickly, Catalina tilted her head and the pan flew harmlessly by it, hitting the ground behind her with a clang. Though she didn`t get hurt, the act caused Catalina to suddenly feel more aggressive at the angry chef.

 **Failed to press:** Catalina attempted to tilt her head out of the way, but found the pan make contact with her face before she could. She hit the ground but was quickly brought back on her feet by Jerry, who asked if she was okay. Catalina just nodded before glaring at the Soup Nazi with rage. **(Catalina: -5% health)**

As the Soup Nazi and his assistants looked ready to approach the trio and fight up close this time, Mae and her ally's watched as Bea and George turned another corner and vanished. To the gator and her helper, they felt the humans unleashed on their foes would put a stop to them for good and soon forgot about them as they resumed freezing every other person they saw.

"We can`t waste any time fighting these guys Catalina. We have to move before we lose track of Bea forever. Besides, whoever this Soup person is, I`m sure his food isn`t really that good", the feline urgently said as she saw Catalina look more eager to retaliate for the upcoming chef attack rather than focus on the groups original goal.

"What did you say!?", the Soup Nazi angrily shouted upon hearing the last sentence Mae spoke, catching the cat off guard. "Oh, nothing. She said nothing", Jerry said, not wanting to face the person in front of him at his angriest. However, his attempt to dodge the issue ended up failing as Mae immediately replied, "I just you're your cooking probably sucks. What`s the big deal about that insult?"

The Soup Nazi clenched his fists as tight as humanly possible and let out a fake laugh. "You know what? No soup for you too kitty cat! Men, attack!", he ordered before he and his two chefs charged forward.

"Get ready, cause this fights about to get brutal!", Catalina eagerly declared as she also raised her fists and charged forward screaming. Alongside her, a hesitant Jerry and Mae followed and glanced ahead for a second. It looked like Bea and Georges rescue would be delayed after all.

 **Fight 5-2 (Bea/George path)**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Jerry**

 **-Catalina**

 **-Mae**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-The Soup Nazi**

 **-Two kitchen chefs**

After the fight:

When the angry chef and his two assistants hit the ground unconscious, it looked like Bea`s control over them became undone as the holographic collars around the human's necks disappeared in a slow fade. None of the members in the winning trio payed attention to that detail however as they immediately started to run towards the last place they saw the alligator and her new ally.

"Please don`t tell me they went too far away", Mae pleaded to herself repeatedly as she sprinted. Catalina and Jerry looked equally concerned as they followed behind her.

To Catalina, the thrill she felt from the battle was quickly gone and replaced with distant regret. She hoped her desire for revenge on the chef who threw the pan at her didn`t ruin her groups mission.

To Jerry, he still couldn`t believe what he did in front of the soup kitchen and hoped that he didn`t need to get in another fight again so soon (worried what his odds would be at winning three challenges in a row). _Too bad I`m not Superman._ _Least then I could quickly handle any unnecessary obstacles_ , he thought, imagining himself taking down every villain like his caped idol with a childlike grin for a second.

Spotting the grin, Catalina almost asked what was wrong, but stopped at the last second. Instead she turned to Mae and told her to get ready for anything Bea possibly set up for them when they reached the next street.

The moment the trio turned the next corner, some more worry overcame them. They saw from some cover they quickly took plenty of drones, panicked civilians and cars swerving in every direction, but no alligator or George were in sight.

"No! We`re too late! They could have gone in any direction. We`ll never find them now!", Mae exclaimed in panic as she took some deep hyperventilated breathes. While she tried to get a good look through the chaos, Catalina muttered a profanity under her breath in Spanish while Jerry desperately tried to come up with a plan. "Maybe we can ask someone if they spotted them and get directions…what? It could work. "Hey mister, have you seen this alligator and bald guy walk by?"", he exclaimed before getting an odd look from the women.

"Even with me in their presence, most people would not believe what you asked. That sounds ridiculous here, and I once wrote a song about a kids show character. Granted, I did alter the lyrics…", Mae began before letting out a cough. "That`s not ridiculous. What`s ridiculous is when the gas station back in Camden once charged five dollars for hot dogs. They claimed they were exotic and imported due to extra ingredients but everyone knew they were just regular hot dogs that were dropped on the floor earlier", Catalina retorted as she continued to look around the scene in front of her for the reptile.

"You sure you two arn`t comedians in your worlds? Cause let say, what you`re mentioning is comedy gold", Jerry couldn`t help but comment. If it weren't for the crisis at hand, Mae and Catalina would have complimented Jerry. Instead, they both focused on the street again, wondering which of many possible routes they should take.

A moment after a random car sped by, someone unexpected followed in an ambulance and got the trios full attention. "Kramer!?", Jerry exclaimed leaning forward to get a better look when he caught the unmistakable sight of his friend leaning out the window screaming "Olly olly oxenfree!", for no real reason. Sitting next to him in the passenger seat was Angus, apparently giving urgent directions while gesturing wildly towards any danger. Mae tried to wave and get his attention, but had no luck.

The ambulance turned at the nearest corner and vanished from sight. Before any of the trio could even comprehend what they witnessed, Newman suddenly sprinted by them like a marathon runner, moving faster than he ever did in his whole life with gusto.

"What the heck? It can`t be!", Jerry exclaimed the second he realized who else ran by him. "Who is that? You recognize him?", Catalina asked. "My mailman and arch enemy. Look at him go. He`s never went this fast before in…ever!", Jerry exclaimed watching Newman weave his way through the danger with no drones even noticing him.

Mae noticed the drones said passiveness towards Newman compared to the other humans and spotted a similar hologram collar on him that the Soup Nazi had. "Oh-oh. I think Bea may have captured him too", she said pointing out the collar to her companions. The second she saw it, Catalina's eyes lit up and she ran forward, signaling her ally's to follow her.

"Catalina, what are you doing?", Jerry exclaimed as he found himself running after the Camden resident with Mae behind him. "If he`s enslaved to the alligator like your weird friend, he might lead us to the right path!", Catalina responded as she ducked to evade an ice blast.

Jerry and Mae both wondered if that claim was a guarantee and almost called out to ask Catalina if she was sure it was the right idea. However, a few close calls from some of the drones and panicked civilians kept the duo from speaking, causing them to focus on staying on Newman`s trail as they evaded.

Newman continued to sprint without slowing down and made his way towards a subway entrance. As he started to head down the steps, Catalina glanced back for a moment and called out, "A-ha! We must be closing in on Beatrice Mae! I can feel it somehow!", "Good! And all this running and rescuing had better take us to a place where I can get a beer or something to drink later. My body is really sore!", Mae commented as she struggled to keep her stamina up.

Jerry, Catalina and Mae all reached the subway entrance and nearby fumbled down a few steps as they made their way underground. The station was mostly deserted when they reached the platform, with a few people taking refuge and hoping they wouldn`t get found by a drone nearby.

As a few of those people gasped at the sight of Mae and pointed, gossiping immediately, the cat and her human companions stopped when they saw Newman was apparently nowhere close by. "Where did the mailman enemy guy go? There`s no way we could lose sight of him that easily!", Mae exclaimed between breathes.

As Jerry did his best not to hurl for a moment, he glanced down the platform and suddenly saw Newman around a few civilians, acting scared yet giving the impression he was waiting for someone. "Hello Newman", Jerry said aloud as he started to approach him, a determined smile on his face. Catalina and Mae both followed Jerry equally confident, feeling there was no way Newman would escape them here.

As everyone else's attention turned towards a sudden approaching subway car, Newman looked up towards Jerry with his completely grey eyes and loudly whistled. The exact moment the transit came to a stop, a nearby wall burst open and several drones emerged.

Everyone tried to run into the nearby transportation or back outside (with a majority getting frozen (which included Fred, Elaine`s ex-boyfriend who testified against her last year, and Marla Penny, a former virgin that Jerry once dated)) when Bea and George emerged from the hole in the wall, catching the trio by surprise.

While Jerry and his crew slowly made their way towards the brainwashed attackers, Bea and George waited for a path to clear in front of them before striding into the subway car like royalty. Once they entered the mostly deserted transportation, Newman and a few drones also entered with the doors starting to close behind them.

Realizing it would be impossible to directly go after George with a bit of distance in between, Jerry glanced to the side and saw another nearby door for the same subway car. Quickly, he and the two women accompanying him managed to jump inside a split second before the entrance completely closed. The subway car then continued its usual automatic route, leaving behind some drones and many frozen victims drifting towards the entrance.

The feeling of victory Jerry, Catalina and Mae felt became short lived when several ice blasts were fired at them by their foes up ahead, prompting them to take cover again. Managing to glance ahead after a few moments, Jerry then saw Bea and George (plus Newman) turn around and start to walk further down the subway car while the drones slowly moved forward and kept shooting.

"We can`t fall back here! The only option we have is to move forward!", Mae exclaimed as she picked up an empty beer bottle and flung it at her foes, though that action barely made an impact. Nodding, Catalina waited for the first opening she saw and made her move alongside the feline. Together, the two women took out three drones and began to inch forward to avoid several more blasts fired at them from ahead. Jerry, who hesitated for a few moments, ended up bringing up the rear.

As the trio made their way closer to Bea and George, one of the drones that was with the alligator ended up firing a bunch of powerful electric shots up ahead, creating a hole in the back of the car while everything else rocked back and forth violently. Losing his balance, Jerry ended up falling and hit his head against a handlebar, blacking out upon impact.

Apparently, the time Jerry was unconscious was only a few seconds as Mae immediately shook him awake. "Hurry up Jerry! Bea and those other guys are going to jump to another passing transit!" Blinking, Jerry fully opened his eyes and saw that from his perspective everything was like an 8-bit video game. Mae, Catalina, the background and everything else looked like it was an NES game.

Letting out a startled cry, Jerry leapt to his feet and found himself following Mae and Catalina, trying to comprehend his new vision. _Oh crap. Oh crap. This had better not hinder my rescue mission for long,_ he thought as Bea and George jumped out the hole to another subway car, crashing through the windows with Newman and their drones behind them.

As Mae, Catalina and Jerry also leaped out and landed in the very rear of the next transition, the comedian managed to get over his shock just enough to go with the temporary new vision. _Might as well roll with it. Hopefully it will clear up soon, right?_ , he thought as he continued to follow Mae and Catalina.

 **Mini-game #9a: Seinfeld World 1-1**

 **Objective:** _ **In a reminiscent of the first Mario game, the player must control Jerry as he moves from point A to point B in a 2D side scrolling environment (a set of subway cars to be more precise) without getting hit.**_

 **Controls:**

 _ **-L Stick (move left or right, though the player can`t backtrack the level as they progress)**_

 _ **-X button (jump)**_

 _ **-Circle/R2 button (shoot fireball if power-up is collected)**_

 **Advice** _ **:**_

 _ **-Like Mario, Jerry can hit certain power blocks to get power ups. Instead of mushrooms, these come in the form of cereal boxes. A standard blue one makes Jerry change from his tiny form to his large form, a red cereal box gives him fire flower –esque abilities and a yellow cereal box gives him invincibility for ten seconds and allows him to move faster.**_

 _ **-It should also be noted that like the original game, getting hit by an enemy causes Jerry to take damage, losing size and abilities if it happens. If Jerry gets hit in his tiny form, it`s back to the recent checkpoint.**_

 _ **-Checkpoints in this section are cardboard cutouts of Superman. Walking by the cutout will activate the checkpoint.**_

 _ **-The enemies and things that can cause Jerry damage are broken glass, freeze drones, electric drones, freeze or electric blasts fired from off screen and random junk that falls from the upper storage whenever the background wobbles violently for a second or two.**_

What happens in the segment:

 _While a mix of the Seinfeld and the NES Mario theme play in the background, Jerry just makes his way through three separate subway cars and jumps from one to the other. At the end of each car Newman, Gregg or Elaine make an appearance before vanishing off-screen, continuing to run with Catalina and Mae after them._

 _During the chase, two more witnesses who testified against Seinfeld and his friends in "The Finales" trial (The Garden Valley Shopping Mall Security Guard from "The Parking Garage" and Detective Hudson from "The Wig Master") make a brief background cameo getting frozen by random drones._

 _The stage ends with Jerry jumping out of the last subway car onto another deserted platform, passing a Superman cutout larger than the usual checkpoint ones. This one also flies off into the air after Jerry passes it and stops. A final score is then tallied, based on the time it took and how many hits Jerry took on his way over. Right before the mini game segment ends, the camera moves forward to show Mae and Catalina glancing back at Jerry, the pixelated world returning to normal._

"Are you okay Jerry? You were saying a few funny things as we made our way through those subways. It was mostly Italian catchphrases, I think", Mae commented as Jerry rubbed his forehead and followed the women down the platform. "Yeah. I`m okay. Just trying to get some things in my head in order", Jerry replied, feeling it was best not to talk about what he had just seen recently.

For a moment, Mae continued giving Jerry a concerned look (knowing all too well a head injury was something that shouldn`t be ignored) but after the feline heard Bea shout for George and Newman to keep moving, she also decided to talk to Jerry later about what happened. He didn`t look too hurt now that she thought about it. Perhaps her new ally got lucky.

Together, the group of three pursued Bea, George and Newman up a set of stairs back to the surface. Once they were outside again, Jerry looked around and noticed a river and a bridge not too far away from the exit.

Catalina`s eyes suddenly lit up in alarm as she started to lead her group through the chaos again, seeing Bea lead her own group to the river ahead of her. "No. They`re starting to make it out of the city like the creep in front of that café instructed", she exclaimed. "Don`t worry. It`s still a fair distance away from here", Jerry replied, confident nothing could stop him from saving George at this point.

Bea suddenly glanced behind her and scowled at the sight of the trio still onto her. Quickly, she stopped and ordered Newman to hold them back as she and George looked around for someone to help delay their foes. As Newman skillfully kept the trio from moving forward, blocking every attempt to pass him with perfection, a random car suddenly came to a halt near George.

Had the man still had his free will intact, he would have squirmed in discomfort when he saw who it was. However, as Estelle and Frank Costanza stepped out, George only glanced at his parents in what could best be described as a cold gaze.

"Georgie?! Is that you? Thank goodness you`re still here. It`s Armageddon all around us! I wanted your father to drive back us to Monks after we ran, but he didn`t want to go!", Estelle shrieked approaching her son, oblivious to his altered state alongside Jerry and his groups frantic warnings. "For crying out loud Estelle, we were being chased by those machines! I was barely able to shake them off!", Frank retorted following his wife while looking around urgently.

"Well, you sure took your time. If something had happened to George, we might have been left with Lloyd Braun as the closest thing to a successful offspring! True, it would be nice to have someone more successful stop by our home, but our boy is one of a kind!", Estelle said, unaware that some of her words were making Georges true self flicker from the mind control. It got even worse when Frank ended up agreeing with his wife that Lloyd Braun was an amazing guy and the son he`d have wanted.

"Oh-oh. Maybe you two should take a step back with me on this", Jerry said pulling Mae and Catalina back a bit from Newman, seeing George on the verge of a rage filled attack. As he did this, Bea noticed another local running towards her unknowingly (Kenny Bania) and grabbed him before he could evade her.

Catalina, Jerry and Mae watched as Estelle, Frank and Kenny all screamed and succumbed to the brainwashing in a matter of seconds. As the three humans stood up facing them (with grey eyes and a hologram collar like the Soup Nazi before them), Bea smiled, looked directly at Mae and her group and stated, "Good. Looks like I wrapped up that problem rather quickly. I`m sure these three fools will finish you for good. Come on helpers, lets continue the conquest".

As Newman and George resumed following Bea and blasted everyone else they saw with their laser pistols, the alligator's new recruits moved in on Jerry and his team, prompting them to get ready for another round.

"This is awful. I`m sure we`ll all feel guilty fighting these people when this is over", Mae couldn`t help but comment. Looking directly at Kenny (who let out a taunt by exclaiming, "I`m just gonna have soup. Yeah, I`ll save the meal for another time"), Frank (who shouted "Serenity Now!) and Estelle (who shrieked like a crazy banshee), Jerry just grinned and put up his fists. "No. No I won`t", he casually told Mae before the fight kicked off between the two teams.

 **Fight 5-3 (Bea/George path)**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Jerry**

 **-Mae**

 **-Catalina**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-Estelle Costanza**

 **-Frank Costanza**

 **-Kenny Bania**

After the fight:

As soon as the three foes were down for the count and unconscious (with their collars vanishing and no longer under the alligators control), Mae glanced ahead and saw that Bea, George and Newman had scaled a fence and were approaching the river in front of them.

"Hurry, we have no time to lose", she urgently declared. "Hold your horses Mae. Now that I think about it, it looks like those three are cornered. Even if those devices on your friend are waterproof, could you possibly imagine her, George and the fat bastard swimming perfectly across? They`d get swept away and lost in the strong current", Jerry replied stepping over Kenny Bania while noting there was nowhere else the trio ahead of him could go so soon.

Glancing at the surroundings again as she and her group approached the fence between her and Bea, Mae let out a nod and said, "Guess you have a point. Maybe this is where the wild chase ends. It couldn`t have come soon enough", "I don`t know if it`s completely verified or not, but it feels like you suddenly jinxed it or something", Catalina said, her superstition instincts kicking in.

As if the universe went out of its way to prove Catalina right, Bea suddenly let out a loud whistle without turning her back on the river, prompting four drones who were close enough to notice her. As one of them froze a random woman running by (who happened to be George`s ex-girlfriend Robin) the machines started to hover over, causing Mae and her team to dodge some attacks as they passed them.

The four drones crashed through the fence and reached Bea and her helpers. Quickly, Bea grabbed onto one drone with each hand while George and Newman clung onto their own. "What the hell is she doing?", Jerry asked baffled as he started to move forward with his group again. As they continued to run and watch, the group then noticed Bea giving a signal to the four drones through the device on her head, prompting them to levitate higher with the beings holding onto them tightly.

The moment she saw the drones start to hover her friend across the river, Mae let out a terrified scream. "No! Not fair! Stop!", she shouted, though it was too late by the time she reached the edge of the water. Bea and her allies were already making fast progress across the river and it didn`t look like anything would stop them. "I knew it! I knew you jinxed it", Catalina couldn`t help but boast, making Mae glare at her bitterly.

Before any of the women could say another word, Jerry quickly changed the topic by calling attention to an abandoned speedboat suddenly he noticed, stranded not too far away from them in the river. Seeing their chance to catch up again on Bea and George, the trio all jumped into the water and swam to the boat. The second they were all on board, Mae started the engine, claiming she had experience back in her hometown from watching someone operate a similar device.

The engine sputtered to life as Jerry took the wheel, turning his teams new transportation around to continue the pursuit. As he started to make his way across the river, Jerry noted that Beas team was already halfway across, though moving at a bit of a slower pace. Grinning, the comedian started to close in on his foes, feeling like Superman about to defeat a force of evil.

Out of nowhere, Bea suddenly looked over her shoulder and saw the boat approaching. After displaying a quick look of surprise, she scowled and gave the four drones with her an order to take out the threats. Each drone turned one arm back and tried to quickly lock onto the trio in the boat.

Quickly seeing this, Catalina alerted Jerry and Mae that they were about to be blasted at. Gripping the wheel as tightly as he could, Jerry told the women to brace themselves. "I`m about to get creative in cruising down the river!", he managed to say before the first attack was launched at him.

 _ **(At this segment a lot of QTE attacks are launched at Jerry, Mae and Catalina. How the player fares will determine how much health they have in the next fight, with failing every prompt bringing the trios health to 50% each)**_

 _(Character/Prompt/action done/damage taken if missed)_

Jerry/Triangle Button/Veers boat to the right/5%

Mae/Square button/catches her balance before she can slam shoulder against boats edge/5%

Catalina/Square button/tilts her head out of the way to dodge electric shot/10%

Jerry/Circle button/nearly does a 180 turn to avoid George and his drone as both fly back to attack directly on Bea`s orders/20%

( _At this point, George jumps off his drone onto the boat and throws a few punches at Mae and Catalina while Jerry tries to get his ship back on course. The drone George came in on flies off_ )

Mae/X button/blocks a punch aimed at her head/10%

Mae/Triangle button/blocks a punch aimed at her gut/5%

Catalina/X button/pulls George away from Mae before deflecting a kick thrown at her/10%

Mae/Square button/Hits George in the head from behind before blocking punch aimed close to throat/10%

Catalina/X button/Tries and fails to trip George, prompting her to brace herself as George tries to shove her against the edge of the boat/5%

Catalina/Triangle button/Blocks another punch while recovering from previous attack/5%

 _Scene that takes place in the middle of the segment:_ _As Jerry finally managed to get a steady pursuit on Bea again while the women fought his brainwashed friend behind him, the comedian suddenly looked at the bridge close by. He noticed that Kramer, Joy and Angus were running on it and apparently fighting someone, though it was hard to tell from where he was. The observation came to an end when George shoved the two women back and grabbed Jerry, attempting to smash his head into the dashboard in front of him. "Get a grip Costazna!", Jerry managed to shout over the attack._

Jerry/Square button/Overcomes Georges strength and shoves his friend back to the women/10%

Jerry/Circle button/ducks to avoid a surprise shot from one of Bea`s drones up ahead/10%

Mae/Circle button/blocks a punch to her head/10%

Catalina/X button/kicks George between the legs before he can hit her/10%

 _(After getting the wind knocked out of him by Catalina one way or another, Georges drone comes back and starts to pick him up. Before it leaves, it aims three electric shots at everyone else on the motorboat. To keep_ _ **Mae**_ _from getting_ _ **10% of damage**_ _, the player has to press the_ _ **square button**_ _. To also keep_ _ **Catalina**_ _from taking_ _ **a 10% hit**_ _, the_ _ **circle button**_ _must be pressed. Finally, the_ _ **X button**_ _must be pressed so_ _ **Jerry**_ _won`t lose_ _ **5%**_ _of his_ _ **health**_ _. Whether all three buttons are hit or not won`t affect the story (aside from how the three characters' act during the attack). After the segment ends, George flies back on his drone to Bea and Newman, with the land not too far away.)_

"Land ho! Everyone brace yourselves! We`re coming in hard!", Jerry declared moving to a boat ramp as he saw Bea, George and Newman jump off their drones and walk onto the mainland (with the four drones hovering away). "You know, if I had a nickel every time I heard someone tell me what you said at my old job, I could afford a house on Beverly Hills", Catalina commented as she squatted to avoid getting flung overboard, prompting Jerry to give her a dirty look for a second while Mae let out a fake gag noise.

Without slowing down, Jerry then drove the boat onto the ramp and found him and his companions sail through the air, landing with an action packed crash a few moments later in the middle of a small and empty parking lot.

As Mae fell out of her now totaled ride looking dizzy, she ended up murmuring, "If we ever get home, remind me never to go on a boat my whole life ever again", "How can we? None of us live in your dimension", Catalina replied as she and Jerry also got off the boat, surprisingly unharmed. "Good point", Mae responded to Catalina after a moment of thought.

The sound of freeze pistols firing got the trios focus back on Bea and George again. They witnessed the them freeze someone (who was known as Leslie the low talker) before vanishing from view, prompting Jerry and his ally's to start running after them again.

As Jerry continued to run alongside Mae and Catalina, his memories of what happened next seemed like a blur due to the fast paced nature of things. He remembered dodging a few more drones, saw many other people get frozen on the nearby roads and traffic jams and stumbled as he approached a mostly flat dead grass field overlooking the city. Next to him, Mae kept muttering for Bea and hoped that they would still have time to free her if she reached her assigned destination by chance, as her friend somehow managed to move far enough away to be barely in sight with her humans.

Catalina suddenly looked to her right and saw Joy and her own group run onto the field, coming from what looked like an abandoned building nearby. Quickly, Catalina waved the other trio over and soon found herself running alongside the only other female Camden resident left with Kramer and Angus too.

"Jerry! You won`t believe what I went through! It was entirely crazy and surreal, even without factoring in the woman from the other dimension and the bear accompanying me! I tell you, what I learned about them and their worlds during the run over here was fascinating", Kramer ecstatically told his friend as he wildly gestured to Angus (who was quickly talking with Mae for a moment, happy to see she was still alive and well).

"I can only imagine. If you heard about what I did with my own companions, you`d never completely believe me either", Jerry replied. "I can back up a lot of this guy's claims, and so could Mae. He already proved himself an asset based on what we faced", Catalina told Kramer, with Mae giving a quick nod to him in reply. Kramer looked like he wanted to comment on this, but had no idea what to say.

"Wow, nice to catch up on our life stories and everything, but I think we`re about to run into something more insane that both our journeys combined y`all. Look at that up ahead!", Joy declared as she pointed to something strange not too far away from the six. The minute they saw what was there, a wave of silence overcame them from the shock and surprise.


	37. Seinfeld- Part 4 (GreggElaine route)

**Option B:**

 **Jerry goes after Gregg and Elaine (with Angus and Joy as his allies)**

Out of nowhere, the answer ended up coming to Jerry. "Kramer, go and save George! I`ll rescue Elaine!", he said before he started running down the street. "Wait, why did you pick Elaine over George!?", Kramer exclaimed as he awkwardly started running in the opposite direction. "I dunno! Could be she left an impression in my life or something…though not romantically!", Jerry quickly answered before focusing on what was ahead of him.

Quickly, the comedian turned the corner of the block and saw what could best be described as pure mayhem, with his brainwashed friend and the mystery fox being near the center of it. The duo were firing their freeze pistols at everyone they spotted, encasing them in ice and levitating them into the sky. Nearby, their many drone allies were helping out by keeping anyone from getting too close to them and freezing any target they spotted too.

A loud cry suddenly got Jerrys attention as he began to move forward, prompting him to see Joy and Angus taking cover behind a mailbox. As he approached cautiously, Jerry noticed the bear was trying to stuff his dimension travel devise into an abandoned backpack he found on the street while Joy was busy keeping a lookout for any surprise attacks.

"Hurry up Angus! We`re going to get caught if we don`t get moving! Plus, your friend is walking away from us!", Joy shouted as she peered out, noticing Gregg and Elaine were in fact moving farther down the street at a steady pace.

An icy blast flew by, nearly hitting Joy and making her fully hide behind her cover again. "I know! I`m not setting Gregg off as my main priority. I just want to make sure our ticket out of here is safe. If this gets busted somehow I don`t know what tools here can help…Joy, behind you!", Angus stated before he spotted a drone approach his friend from behind.

Joy quickly leapt to her feet and grabbed the drone by the arm, stopping another blast that would have completely frozen her. As Angus stood up ready to come to Joys aid, Jerry suddenly rushed forward and helped the Camden resident slam the attacker into a nearby wall as hard as the two could, destroying it.

As Angus picked up his new backpack with the secured teleporter and gave Jerry a quick nonverbal "thank you", Joy looked startled by who saved her and replied with a punch to the comedians face. "Ow! What the hell was that for?", Jerry exclaimed rubbing the spot that got hit.

"Oh, you think I forgot what happened in front of that diner? You and your little group nearly exposed me and my bear friend. Couldn`t mind your own business like a snitch, could you?", "I was just curious what your friend and the other lady were doing", Jerry replied before Angus got his and Joys full attention.

"Joy, stop bickering with this guy and focus on Gregg and that other lady! They`re getting away!", Angus said before he looked down the block and noticed how fast Gregg and his new helper were on the move. Nodding, Joy started to head down the street alongside the bear. Without wasting a second, Jerry ran right behind them.

"Seriously? You still following us?", Joy exclaimed glancing back a bit before she punched a drone in the face. "This may sound odd Joy, but maybe he can help us save Gregg. A team of three is better than a team of two", Angus said before he ducked to evade a falling air conditioner from above. "You really trust this stranger Angus? We don`t even know his name", Joy retorted.

"It`s Jerry. Jerry Seinfeld. And for the record I have a few reasons you need my help. I know this place quite well, I can handle a fight if I get into one, and the person your fox friend brainwashed is a friend of mine", Jerry replied as he shoved another drone aside into a bagel shop window before it could hit him.

Joy looked ready to tell off Jerry for good this time, but a pleading look from Angus made her decide to just give him the benefit of the doubt. "Fine, but if you say or do anything else at my expense, we`re leaving you in the dust. Besides, you won`t stay around long with my partner anyway considering how close we are to the fox", she said as she looked ahead. She and her companion noted that Gregg and Elaine were not too far away now, with their drone allies moving away to attack another large group of humans.

"Gregg! Bug!", Angus pleaded as he got within a hundred feet from his boyfriend. To his surprise, Gregg stopped and spun around with Elaine. However, the fox and his ally looked so enraged it made Angus and his human companions stop where they were.

"So, you think that if you chase me down and stop me, that`ll make you some sort of hero to be remembered for generations? Well, I`ve got news for you: I`m never surrendering or going down easily", Gregg said in his robotic tone again, though nobody was scared by it as they were previously.

"Gregg. Just trust me and let me come closer to you. I`m going to take off that mind control device on your head and neck and get you out of your mental enslavement. I know you like anarchy and destruction, but not on this level", Angus desperately said as he looked around before stepping forward, reaching for the collar.

Out of nowhere, Gregg raised an arm with red sparks traversing down the armor he wore. "Oh snap. Surprise attack! Look out!", Joy screeched as she and Jerry stepped out of Greggs path while Angus sprinted forward, intending to make sure nobody else got hurt by his out of control boyfriend.

 **Prompt: X button**

 **Hit in time:** Angus grabbed Greggs arm and pointed it to the sky, causing a red laser like beam to shoot upward and out of sight. Angry by his botched shot, Gregg attempted to retaliate by kicking Angus with his foot. However, Angus blocked it with his other arm before he let go of the fox. Seeing the enraged look by the fail on his boyfriend's face then caused Angus to take a few nervous steps back, fearing either him or Gregg would end up getting hurt if he tried anything immediately afterward.

 **Missed:** Angus grabbed Greggs arm and pointed it to the sky, causing a red laser like beam to shoot upward and out of sight. However, the feeling of victory the bear had was short lived when his boyfriend delivered a hard kick to his gut with his foot. Angus stepped away gasping for breath, surprised by how strong of a blow Gregg could give out. "Start running if you don`t want any more of that"", Gregg threatened, pleased by the sight of the bear in pain. "Never", Angus replied. **(Angus: -5% health)**

Taking a moment to look upward, Jerry couldn`t help but ask Joy aloud where the red laser ended up. "Don`t know, don`t care. I doubt this will affect us in anyway", Joy replied as Angus came back to her, urgently saying they needed to find a real plan to free Gregg and Elaine fast.

After the bear told her this, Gregg and Elaine pulled out their freeze pistols again and pointed them at the trio. They firing multiple times yet continuing to miss shot after shot as their targets started to dodge and tried to move in on them, only to be sent back each step they managed to take forward one way or another.

Back in front of Monks, Newman stirred a bit and slowly sat up rubbing his head. As he tried to wonder what had just happened and what was going on around him in regards to the chaos, the beam that Gregg fired came back into view from the sky and sailed down from the air towards him.

Newman started to clumsily get up when he found himself get hit by the beam, sending him back to the ground twitching and screaming. As he felt sparks course through his entire body, an ominous hologram of a collar started to appear on his neck similar to the one Elaine had on her.

Back on the street that Jerry and his two allies were at, Gregg and Elaine continued to fire icy blasts at their three targets and continued to miss. They managed to get their foes to back up when the fox made him and his ally stop shooting. Though the attacks ended, the trio kept their distance in case of a potential surprise attack and tried to come up with another idea to take down the brainwashed foes secretly among themselves.

Feeling bitter by his failure, Gregg loudly mumbled, "Damn. Need another way to take down difficult targets. Can`t use any drones in the area for backup due to high amount of them already damaged…Boss would be annoyed if I tried brainwashing these creeps into our cause now that I think about it… ", before the devices he wore started to search for an alternative plan.

Suddenly, someone ran past Jerry, Joy and Angus and nearly collided into Gregg. This prompted Elaine to jump forward and grab who she thought was another assailant. "Ahh! Let me go! Let me go! Help!", the person exclaimed, fighting to escape Elaine's tight grip. "You dare attack us?", Elaine only replied.

As he watched her struggle to get away from Elaine while managing to punch her a few times, Jerrys eyes lit up in surprise. "Hey, I know that woman. It`s Sue Ellen Mischke", "Who?", Joy asked perplexed. "She`s a rival to my friend Elaine. She`s also nicknamed the "bra-less wonder" by her", Jerry replied, making Joy give a surprised expression.

Gregg looked at Sue Ellen and suddenly had an idea. Reaching over, he grabbed the woman by the head like he did with Elaine earlier and quickly brainwashed her in a similar fashion. As Sue Ellen Mischke fell to her knees with a transparent collar around her, Gregg then looked around the street and zapped two more people with more laser blasts, managing to perfectly strike them on the first try each.

Upon seeing Joy take a step forward to confront him while he awaited the extra aid, Gregg ordered Elaine to hold her back. "Hold me back? If you saw all the scuffles I got into when I was still single you won`t even dare…", Joy began to taunt.

Elaine suddenly made a wild set of hand gestures and shouted, "STELLA!", before ferociously charging at the Camden resident. As Jerry and Angus took a few steps back nervously, Joy found herself too terrified to move and only muttered, "Oh snap", at the sight of the approaching mad woman.

 **Prompt: Square button**

 **Hit in time:** Quickly recalling an episode of "Springer" that she watched a few years ago, Joy sidestepped from Elaine's charging path and swung a fist at her, causing her attacker to stumble back from the impact. Before she could recover, Joy then ran up and delivered a kick that sent her flying back to Gregg and landing on her back. "Still got it!", Joy declared as Elaine jumped back to her feet looking ready to retaliate already.

 **Missed:** Before Joy could come up with an idea on how to defend herself, Elaine rammed into her and sent her to the ground. Joy then looked up, saw she was going to get kicked in the head by her enraged foe, and closed her eyes for the impact. However, Jerry ran forward and managed to push Elaine back towards Gregg while Angus helped his ally up. "Is that woman always that brutal? Cause let me tell you, she really knows her moves quite well", Joy asked Jerry as Elaine glared at her a safe distance away. "Depends on the day", Jerry replied. **(Joy: -5% health)**

At this point, Greggs additional backup came and the second Jerry saw who it was, he ended up letting out another surprised exclamation.

"Wait, you know these people here too?", Joy asked seeing his expression after glancing towards the two people that stood between them and Gregg alongside Sue Ellen Mischke. "Unfortunately yes. Joy and Angus, I`d like to introduce you to Lt. Joe Bookman, library cop, and Marcelino, this illegal cock fighter who testified against me once at a trial", Jerry said introducing the two men.

Looking at Jerry and his companions with their now ominous grey eyes, Bookman exclaimed, "You think this is a big joke, don`t you? I`ll teach you a lesson you won`t forget…permanently", while Marcelino flexed his arms looking ready to throw punches.

At this point, Gregg and Elaine felt their new aid would take care of the problem and turned around, walking casually down the street again. While they pulled out their freeze pistols and resumed catching anyone they ran into, the three new recruits to the fox slowly and menacingly moved forward to fight.

As they did, a nearby drone across the street fired a random blast and hit a part of a balcony above Angus, sending some debris falling towards him. At the moment, the bear didn`t realize the danger as he was shouting for Gregg not to walk away from him.

 **Prompt: Triangle button**

 **Hit in time:** By some miracle, Angus then found himself looking up for a reason and spotted the falling danger. Without hesitating, he backed out of the way and watched as the debris hit the ground, harming no one. After the shock of that moment passed, he then looked ahead towards his boyfriend more anxious than ever.

 **Missed:** Before Angus could notice what had happened next, the falling debris landed on him and sent him to the ground. Joy and Jerry urgently called his name as they bent over, keeping one eye on him and another on the approaching attackers. When the noticed Angus was still alive and only bruised a bit by some miracle, the two humans grabbed him by the arms and pulled him back to his feet. Though his status was a concern, Angus focused more on Gregg as anxiously as he could. **(Angus: -10%)**

"We can`t waste time with this fight. We have to get to Gregg immediately", Angus apprehensively told Joy as he watched the fox move farther and farther away from the approaching fight.

Joy and Jerry tried to spot a way out of a brawl. After a few seconds of useless examination with the attack team just about to reach the trio, Joy replied, "Sorry Angus. Rescuing Gregg and that weird woman are going to have to move aside as the main priority for a moment. We`ve gotta handle this situation first".

"I have to agree with your friend on this Angus. I can`t help out Elaine if we`re being attacked by these three foes of mine", Jerry replied before the brainwashed humans reached him and his partners.

As the punches started to get thrown and Angus blocked a few attacks, he looked ahead one last time and hoped that he wouldn`t lose sight of Gregg forever in the time it took to win the brawl. Focusing fully on what was ahead of him, Angus duked it out alongside with Jerry and Joy, giving all he had.

 **Fight 5-2 (Gregg/Elaine path)**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Jerry**

 **-Joy**

 **-Angus**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-Sue Ellen Mischke**

 **-Lt. Joe Bookman**

 **-Marcelino**

After the fight:

The second the three humans fell to the ground unconscious, it looked as if Greggs control over them had stopped. The hologram collars around the foes necks seemed to slowly fade away, though none of the winners seemed to notice as they walked past them towards Gregg and Elaine, who had just turned another corner way down the block.

"We still have a chance. We can still save him", Angus seemed to chant to himself as he made his way down the block with the humans by his side.

As he made his way down the street, Jerry glanced back at the three people he fought and told Joy, "You know, despite being with somebody from another dimension amid an alien invasion, winning two random fights in one day is the craziest thing I did thus far. Just hope I don`t have to do a third fight. The only way I`d feel better about my odds were if I was Superman".

"Don`t worry, if it comes to another brawl I gotcha all covered. My treat (I guess)", Joy replied just before the trio turned the corner, feeling they were getting closer to Gregg and Elaine than ever before.

When the trio turned the next corner, they immediately saw Elaine had stopped a random car and had ripped the front door open like a piece of paper with Greggs help. This prompted the group to halt where they were momentarily out of shock and fear. They could only watch as the fox then reached in the car and pulled out what looked like a struggling pharmacist, causing Jerry to let out another surprised expression.

"Hey, I know that guy too. It`s Dr. Roger Hoffman. He also testified against me and Elaine in a trial one time!", Jerry exclaimed as he watched the man he was describing get frozen by Elaine and elevated into the sky. "Another person who testified against you? What are you here, public enemy number one?", Joy asked.

"No, just got unlucky a year ago. Simply put, it`s a long and polarizing story full of alleged misdeeds coming back to apparently bite me in the ass", Jerry answered as Gregg and Elaine suddenly stopped what they were doing and just stood still in the middle of everything going on. "You sound like my ex-husband. Weird", Joy said to Jerry before Angus noted that his boyfriend and Elaine had their backs fully turned on the trio, not noticing any of them at this point.

Quickly, the bear pointed this out to the humans before he slowly moved towards Gregg, intending to tackle him and rip the collar right off. This caused Jerry and Joy to follow, with both humans moving towards Elaine.

As Jerry got closer to Elaine, he overhead Gregg ordering some drones several blocks away in an attempt to take down a counter attack by a mob of humans. It was at that moment when the order ended that the fox glanced sideways and spotted the trio, prompting them to spring forward for the tackle.

In less than a split second, Gregg had him and Elaine sidestep the surprise ambush. The trio ended up flying past them and hit the ground. As they tried to get back up on their feet, Gregg made his human helper get in the cars passenger seat and attacked the group personally. Angus blocked a kick while shouting for his boyfriend, though the fox still didn`t seem to hear a word that was said to him as he threw a few more malicious attacks, angered that his earlier new recruits failed to stop a threat to him.

A loud crash made Gregg stop attacking for a moment and look down the block, seeing several nearby drones get taken down by a police car. Feeling the pressure to continue to conquest on schedule with a slow but steady decline in forces, the fox sprinted for the car and got in the driver's seat, leaving Jerry, Joy and Angus in his dust as he sped off to an unknown destination.

As Joy coughed and fanned some of the dust away, she looked at Angus and exclaimed, "Your lover really knows how to brawl, I`ll give him that", "We still need to go after him. Is there a car or something we can use?", Angus asked desperately as he looked around. "There`s something", Jerry stated, pointing towards a nearby ambulance that was apparently abandoned not too long ago, as the ignition was still on.

"Huh, talk about being lucky at a time like this", Joy commented. "Hey, I`m an Even Steven. Something bad happens (like we failed that ambush), something good follows to balance things out", Jerry replied as he, Joy and Angus all approached the vehicle, making Joy say that she was really being reminded of Earl at this point.

Without a second wasted, Angus reached the ambulance first and moved into the passenger seat after Jerry convinced him he was better off driving (since he had the best knowledge of all the roads and where to go). Joy hopped into the back as Jerry sped off, hoping he wouldn`t lose sight of Elaine at the next block.

As the comedian made a turn and had Greggs car in sight, he tried to switch on the emergency siren but had no luck after several attempts. "What the eff are you doing?", Joy exclaimed, witnessing the set of failed attempts. "I just thought this would make the road in front of us a bit clearer", Jerry answered before swerving twice to avoid a fleeing person and a drone respectively, putting a bit of distance between him and Gregg.

"Well, that siren is somehow busted. Only option is to lean out the window and holler something intimidating. That`d make me back off", Joy replied. Taking a moment to think of an idea, Jerry leaned out the window and shouted, "These pretzels are making me thirsty!" Angus only gave Jerry a strange look before he started to point out some unseen dangers for him to avoid. A moment later, Jerry also felt the shouting was too strange and ducked back inside, focusing solely on catching up to the other car. He`d just have be creative with any scenario he approached on the road.

The car and the ambulance went through several streets, each one feeling more chaotic than the last. Jerry felt it was a miracle his vehicle didn`t get much damage from all the danger while Angus kept his eyes on the fox inside the car ahead, who seemed to get closer or farther away from him each second, making him sway from pessimistic to optimistic in a heartbeat. In the rear, Joy was stuffing her pockets with fancy medical supplies (like alcohol swabs and bandages that were in better quality than the ones she got from a homeless guy near the Crab Shack) and shouted at Jerry to watch it as a few swerves sent her flying into the walls and the gurney.

As he drove, Jerry thought he caught a glance of Kramer, Catalina and Mae running down one of the streets towards a subway. He wanted to stop and call out to them, but by then the other trio had went underground and Angus had pressured him to keep on moving intently, saying that like them there was no need to get distracted.

Another surprise soon followed when Gregg made a turn that sent his car in the opposite direction. As Jerry also turned and continued to follow, he felt his jaw drop at the unexpected sight of Newman running up ahead. It looked like the mailman was going fast enough to put an Olympic athlete to shame, as he dashed with more gusto than he usually ever did.

"Newman?", Jerry could only exclaim as he watched his foe leap into the air from an overturned hot dog stand and land atop the moving car with perfection, staying squatted and in place despite all the sharp turns Gregg did. "You know that chubby fella?", Joy asked glancing ahead, seeing the same thing Jerry saw.

"Yes I do, though I don`t mean it in a good way. He`s my arch enemy. The Lex Luthor to my Superman, only less subtle and with enhanced abilities from that mind control thing", Jerry said as he spotted the holographic collar around the mailman's neck in the distance, causing him to drive less straight as he wondered how powerful of a foe he was truly facing. If something could take over Elaine or even Newman that easily, how vulnerable was he if the technology was applied to him?

Out of nowhere, Angus grabbed the wheel and stopped the ambulance from crashing into a parked car. As soon as Jerry recovered from the surprise and got a brief lecture to focus on the road from the bear, he shook the concerned thoughts from his mind off and returned all his attention to catching up with Gregg and Elaine.

Looking at the fuel gage and seeing for the first time how close the needle was the E, Jerry did his best not to fall behind as he saw the car had made another turn in a different direction. This time it was to a long street that basically looked like a death trap to anyone who dared to go down it, due to all the anarchy and chaos taking place.

Seeing the high amount of attacking drones and rioters made Joy take cover under the gurney while Angus kept his head low a little, telling Jerry to just floor it no matter what while he continued to point out the unseen dangers. "I know it`s probably against common sense, but I say at this point it`s now or never that we get Gregg and that lady friend of yours back! Move faster!", the bear replied as Jerry increased the speed of the ambulance.

Angus was right: it was now or never that they stopped that car. Jerry was determined more than ever to ensure that plan wouldn`t fail while Joy kept shouting "creative" encouragements to him, basically telling him to drive like crazy and to go out in a blaze of glory if it came to that. "But I don`t wanna go out in a blaze of glory", Jerry ended up whining to himself.

 **Mini-game #9b: Seinfeld Kart**

 **Objective:** _ **In order to win this mini game, Jerry must drive close enough to Greggs car and ram it to a stop while avoiding obstacles that are blocking his path and slowing him down. The player must also stop the vehicle being pursued before it gets to a certain distance.**_

 **Controls:**

 **-** _ **R2 Button (accelerate ambulance)**_

 _ **-L2 Button (slow down ambulance)**_

 _ **-L stick (steer)**_

 **Advice:**

 **-** _ **As Jerry drives, a marker will display the distance between his vehicle and the other. This will help the player note their progress as they make their way down the road.**_

 _ **-If an obstacle on the road is hit, it will take a few seconds for the ambulance to regain its full speed. Since every second counts though, this could be what makes someone pass or fail the mini-game. Simply put, don`t hit anything on the road. If slowing down a bit to make a better but more beneficial turn is necessary, do it.**_

 _ **-Obstacles include drones, rubble, other abandoned cars and people (Don`t worry about killing someone if it looks like you drove straight to someone. Jerry will always slow down and move one direction at the last second while the person either quickly backs away or gets frozen by a drone and levitated upwards).**_

What happens in the segment:

 _During the chase segment, Jerry mostly stays silent while he drives while Angus and Joy have determinant lines of dialogue. Such actions that can trigger the dialogue is if Jerry hits something on the street, if he starts to steadily get father from the car, if he is making steady progress in getting closer and if things have been silent for a while (prompting Joy to say something random)._

 _The chase segment also has cameos of characters who appeared in "The Finale" while a lot of drone attacks take place in the background. Babu Bhatt is seen fighting off two drones simultaneously and is overwhelmed when three more drones approach him from behind, Elaine's ex-boss Justin Pitt is shown getting hit multiple times by freeze blasts as he runs down the street and George Steinbrenner (George Costanzas former boss on the New York Yankees) is seen exiting an Italian restaurant with his back turned, apparently holding a lot of calzones. A stray drone blast is seen heading towards him before he disappears from the cameras view._

 _The segment ends with Jerry hitting the rear of Greggs car, causing it to screech and do a 180 turn before both vehicles come to a complete stop. While the screen fades back to the story, Elaine and Gregg are seen slowly getting out. Newman also does a complex flip off the roof and stands between both groups intimidatingly._

To Angus` relief, he noticed Gregg wasn`t hurt one bit in the attempt to stop him (just like Elaine and Newman) as he and his companions exited the ambulance. However, the relief went back to the usual concern when Gregg started to complain in his ominous voice. "You just won`t let us be? Damn, are you three a pain in the ass or what?!", he exclaimed clenching his fists in anger.

"Watch your mouth fox boy! If I had a f[ _beep_ ]ing bar of soap, I`d rinse it in your mouth for a f[ _beep_ ]ing long time. That outta teach you to speak shit in front of me like that. Douchebag", Joy angrily retorted, causing Gregg and his mesmerized ally's to look more hostile while Angus and Jerry were caught off guard a second by the outburst.

"Okay everybody. Let's drop the profanity and focus on what`s important. We just want to take those things off you Gregg. Trust me, it`s for your own good", Jerry began after he got over his shock, trying to sidestep Newman as he kept the comedian back with quick movements. Angus and Joy moving in to help Jerry didn`t seem to make that much of a difference even, as Newman became that good at holding people back under his new influence.

Elaine, who started to look around the area for some extra help upon getting an order from Gregg, suddenly spotted a face that would have been familiar if she still had her free will.

J. Peterman, the head of a catalog company called the _J. Peterman Catalog,_ was sprinting by monologueing the surrealness of what was going on around him when he heard someone cry out in panic. Turning, he was shocked to see who it was. "Elaine Benes?! Is that really you!? I haven`t seen you since last year! What a big surprise!", he exclaimed as he ran over, expecting to be the knight to her damsel in distress position.

As he ran over, Peterman noticed Jerry along with Joy and (more bizarrely) Angus shouting a warning to him as they still tried to get past Newman. He also noticed Gregg for the first time, grabbing some other people who unfortunately ran by too close to him, making them fall to their knees as they were apparently acting like they were electrocuted.

Before Peterman could stop himself, asking Elaine why that fox next to her was attacking humans in a nonconformist way and why she was acting loyal to him like a sidekick to a superhero, his former worker managed to get her hands on him. "Got another one!", Elaine shouted to Gregg as he finished with the two other humans. Spinning around, Gregg grinned at the sight of Peterman struggling to escape. The man let out a scream upon seeing the fox go for him, fearing his life was about to end in the craziest way possible.

As Jerry, Joy and Angus watched Peterman get brainwashed helplessly, the comedian looked at the other two humans that were "recruited" and exclaimed, "I know those other two guys. I`ve crossed paths with them before", "Really? Who are they?", Joy asked, not taking her eyes off Gregg.

"One of them is my old dentist, Dr. Tim Whatley. The other is Mr. Lippman, someone Elaine used to work for. Lippman is kinda alright to me, but I really don`t like Whatley anyway", "Who are you? Someone against dentists? You an anti-dentite or something?", Joy replied. "Believe it or not, this isn`t the first time someone`s called me that", Jerry exclaimed as Gregg finished with Peterman.

Taking a moment to look at the three humans, Gregg smiled at his work and ordered them to attack Angus and his companions. He then told Elaine and Newman to keep following him, approaching a bridge not too far off that lead the way out of the city.

"Oh snap. It looks like they`re about to leave town like that monster in front of that café ordered. We might not be able to get to them if they make it too far!", Joy exclaimed watching the fox leave, freezing everyone who crossed him alongside Elaine again. "No! We can`t stop to fight now. Every second counts!", Angus added desperately, seeing his boyfriend start to leave him again with dread as the three humans he recruited closed in.

Shaking his head in frustration after taking a quick look around, Jerry said, "It looks like there`s no way we can get past these guys without putting them down first again. Seems like we`ll have to battle first and follow the fox second", "Man. De ja vu situation. Never would`ve noticed if you hadn`t pointed it out", Joy said before the next fight got started with the two groups. Angus looked ahead desperately again before caving in and putting all his attention on his foes, intending to finish this as soon as he could.

 **Fight 5-3 (Gregg/Elaine path)**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Jerry**

 **-Joy**

 **-Angus**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-J. Peterman**

 **-Mr. Lippman**

 **-Tim Whatley**

After the fight:

As soon as the three foes were down for the count and unconscious (with their collars vanishing and no longer under the foxes control), Angus immediately started to move forward with Jerry and Joy right behind him. Glancing ahead, the humans noticed that Elaine, Newman and Gregg had gotten to the bridge and had started to cross it, weaving their way across the various pileups while also freezing anyone still around (one of whom was another ex-girlfriend of Jerrys, Sidra Holland).

"We`re so close. We still have a chance to stop them, right?", Angus asked his teammates nervously as he neared the entrance to the bridge, dodging a drone in the process and shifting his shoulders to keep his backpack from falling off him. "Anything is possible Angus. I`ve done some crazy things growing up back home that would`ve got me arrested, yet I somehow bamboozled the law when it really mattered", Joy answered, causing Angus to let out a bit of a nervous laugh. "That sounds like something Gregg would tell me", he only replied, holding back a tear.

The moment the trio reached the bridge and started to run across it, Jerry glanced down towards the river and suddenly felt a little sick. "Hey, you okay?", Joy asked, noticing his condition. "It`s nothing. All this running and the stress are probably getting to my stomach", Jerry replied as he looked back on the road up ahead, feeling much better almost immediately.

"Maybe we caught a break. This place doesn`t seem as dangerous as the streets back there", Angus commented as he jumped over a car's hood, noticing the only dangerous things ahead of him were Gregg and Elaine with their freeze pistols.

Out of nowhere, several drones emerged out into the groups view, having been previously out of sight behind some vehicles. "Way to go Angus, you really had to jinx it!", Joy bitterly exclaimed before several drones fired at her, making her and her two ally`s take cover. "Hey, it`s not my fault! I didn`t see them!", Angus retorted to Joy.

"Lady and bear, can we save this bickering for later? We need to get off this bridge. Not as many options for attacking or hiding here", Jerry told them, stopping a real quarrel from starting (mostly, as Joy gave Angus a bitter look the moment he turned his back on her).

As Gregg and his human helpers made their way across to the other side, Jerry spotted an opening through the attacks and lead the way, going from cover to cover with Angus and Joy sticking with him most of the time (occasionally going to their own cover).

Out of nowhere, Gregg glanced behind him just in time to see Jerry and Angus hide near a Toyota while Joy crawled under an abandoned truck. "Damn it. Drones, get them", he ordered, prompting all the drones on the bridge to turn their focus solely to three targets.

"Great, it looks like things are about to get really challenging", Jerry couldn`t help but mutter. "Hey, don`t look at me. I`m not complaining. In fact, I`m excited to see a challenge is up and running here. Bring it on tin heads!", Joy shouted with enthusiasm before the wave of attacks came in.

 **(At this segment a lot of QTE attacks are launched at Jerry, Joy and Angus. How the player fares will determine how much health they have in the next fight, with failing every prompt bringing the trios health to 50% each)**

 _(Character/Prompt/action done/damage taken if missed)_

Joy/Circle button/evades an electric blast fired at her from the nearest drone and throws a punch as a counterattack/5%

Joy/Square button/falls back against a car to avoid an ice blast from a freeze drone and kicks it away from her/5%

Angus/Triangle button/leaps onto the ice drone attacking Joy and clings on as it spins a bit/5%

Angus/Triangle button/lets go of the drone before it slams so hard into a pickup truck that it breaks/10%

Jerry/X button/sprints ahead and tries to reach Elaine, only to step back from a falling piece of metal when Gregg fires above his head at a damaged part of the bridge/20%

Joy/Square button/runs up to hit Elaine, only to deflect a counterattack from Newman and retreat/5%

 _(At this point, Gregg spots a few remaining humans fighting or evading drones ahead of him and fires three laser blasts at them. As they are quickly brainwashed, he gives the command to attack the three foes behind him alongside Elaine. Elaine and the three humans then rush towards the group in the attempt to attack)._

Jerry/Triangle button/blocks a punch Elaine throws at him/5%

Jerry/X button/blocks a kick from one of the three other humans behind him/5%

Joy/Circle button/attempts to help Angus as he`s attacked by the second human only to hold back her own attacker (the third human)/5%

Joy/Square button/does a round house kick to stun her attacker/5%

Angus/Triangle Button/moves out of the way as Joy flings her human attacker onto his own attacker/10%

Angus/Square button/dodges an electric drones blast from far behind him before he continues to move forward/10%

 _Scene that takes place in the middle of the segment_ _: Up ahead, Jerry struggles to hold back Elaine while Joy tackles his other attacker, beating him up. During the fight to keep his enraged ex-girlfriend off him, Jerry ends up looking down towards the river and is surprised to see Kramer, Mae and Catalina cruise by on a motorboat. Kramer is wearing sunglasses and for a moment a Seinfeld/James Bond theme mix is heard. Before Jerry could process what he`s seeing, Elaine head butts him and sends him stumbling back to the middle of the road._

Jerry/X button/blocks another attack from Elaine/10%

Angus/Circle button/opens a nearby car door to shield himself from an attack from Elaine when he runs up to help Jerry/10%

Joy/X button/runs up to take down Elaine after seeing the other three humans are out cold and freed from Greggs control. She stops herself from slamming into a truck as Elaine sidesteps her/10%

Joy/Square button/ducks to avoid a punch from Elaine as she yells "Get out!" Whether Joy succeeded or failed to dodge, she retaliates by shoving Elaine from her and yells, "No! You back off!"/10%

Jerry/Circle button/recovers his balance after tripping over some debris at the last second. Elaine sprints back towards Gregg as he does this/5%

 _(As Gregg reaches the end of the bridge with Elaine catching up to him, he has four of his drones pick up a random car and fling it at Jerry and Angus (with Joy out of range from the impact zone). To keep_ _ **Jerry**_ _and_ _ **Angus**_ _from getting_ _ **5% damage**_ _each from the glass shrapnel's that fly from the car crashing next to them, the player must press the_ _ **Circle**_ _and_ _ **Square button**_ _respectively.)_

"Holy cow! You boys okay!?", Joy shouted as she approached Jerry and Angus once she was sure no more cars would get flung. "We`ll live", "I`ve survived worse", Jerry and Angus both replied simultaneously before turning their attention to Gregg, Elaine and Newman, who walked off the road towards their destination.

Quickly, the trio resumed their chase and evaded a few more blasts from the drones behind them (one of the attacks that Angus dodged hit a woman ahead of him known as Leslie the low talker, completely freezing her as she stepped out of her car when it got a flat tire).

Glancing behind her, Joy looked at the bridge one last time and commented that it felt like she did the first action scene ever that took place on one. "Sure, except for other examples such as _The Living Daylights, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Saturday Night Fever…_ Shall I continue?", Jerry teased. "Shut your mouth and keep moving funny man", Joy retorted, a bit embarrassed by her obliviousness.

As Jerry continued to run alongside Joy and Angus, his memories of what happened next seemed like a blur due to the fast paced nature of things. He remembered dodging a few more drones, running into an abandoned building and stumbling down an old fire escape to get to a mostly flat dead grass field overlooking the city. Next to him, Angus kept muttering for Gregg, promising he wouldn`t lose his true love to all this no matter what. As he said this, Jerry noticed that Gregg and Elaine had somehow gotten far enough to be almost out of sight.

Joy suddenly looked around the field and got a surprise when she saw Catalina and her team also running close by, apparently coming into the area from the nearby road. Catalina also spotted Joy and signaled her and her group to come over. Quickly, Joy lead the way to the other trio and found herself running alongside the only other female Camden resident left with Kramer and Mae too.

"Jerry! You won`t believe what I went through! It was entirely crazy and surreal, even without factoring in the woman from the other dimension and the cat accompanying me! I tell you, what I learned about them and their worlds during the run over here was fascinating", Kramer ecstatically told his friend as he wildly gestured to Mae (who was quickly talking with Angus for a moment, happy to see he was still alive and well).

"I can only imagine. If you heard about what I did with my own companions, you`d never completely believe me either", Jerry replied. "Hey, I`m a reliable witness. If I say Jerry was right about doing somethin crazy, then that means I`m right", Joy told Kramer, with Angus giving a quick nod to him in reply. Kramer looked like he wanted to comment on this, but had no idea what to say.

"Guys, I hate to interrupt this small social event going on, but I think we`re about to approach something dangerous. Look at what`s ahead!", Catalina exclaimed as she pointed to something strange not too far away from the six. The minute they saw what was there, a wave of silence overcame them from the shock and surprise.


	38. Seinfeld- Part 5

Bea and Gregg had reunited and now stood in front of the dimension eraser with George, Newman and Elaine not far away amid a few drones, standing straight in a line like obedient soldiers without even the faintest trace of emotion on display.

As the displayed countdown continued to tick in the semi-secluded field, the new Alpha and Beta both filed a report to the Boss on how many people they both froze and how much of the world population had been taken, also affirming that they reached their assigned destination.

The Boss was impressed by the results (with over 99% of the dimension's residents frozen) and told the duo to wait and guard the device until the countdown neared zero, as the next dimension coordinates were still being sent to them. "Affirmative. Staying to guard dimension eraser", Bea and Gregg simultaneously stated in their robotic voices before they heard a distant shout.

Spinning around, the fox and alligator looked annoyed to see Jerry, Kramer, Joy, Catalina, Mae and Angus approaching them, prompting the nearby drones to move in and attempt to freeze them.

"Damn it! How are they still here? I thought I lost them after I left the city!", Bea exclaimed as she watched the drones and the group of six brawl with the drones.

"Same here. Probably should have just froze them when we had the chance. Guess we were too busy messing with them to notice the targets were more hostile than intended", Gregg replied pulling out his freeze pistol as he saw half of his metallic army get quickly taken down.

As Bea also pulled out her freeze pistol and aimed, Kramer (who was busy beating the crap out of one of the remaining freeze drones with Joys help) suddenly spotted her and let out a loud scream. "Everyone duck and cover!", he shrieked sliding behind a destroyed drone before a set of freeze blasts were fired at the six.

Lucky for Kramer and the other five, all the shots that Bea and Gregg fired at them missed due to the destroyed drones giving cover. Joy continued to smack the last drone standing while remaining in front of it (making said drone an unintentional shield) while her acquaintance Catalina hid fearfully behind another destroyed drone, keeping her head down.

Seeing Catalina in distress all by herself made Kramer crawl awkwardly over to her in an attempt to protect her, nearly getting hit twice and flinching wildly at both close calls. When he got to Catalina, Kramer told her loudly that she`d be okay and that he`d take a hit for her if it came to that, making Catalina look a bit calmer while Jerry glanced at his friend with jealousy from his own cover.

"Seriously, I`ve known Kramer for over a decade and let him eat my food all the time. Why wouldn`t he take a hit for me?" ( **If Kramer didn`t go with Catalina:** " _He didn`t even come all the way here with that lady during the chase"_ , Jerry whined to Mae and Angus, who were behind the same cover he was. As Angus gestured Jerry to keep his head down, Mae said, "I`m sure someone out there would take an attack for you", "Really, you mean that?", Jerry asked eagerly. "I`m sure, though it wouldn`t be me or Angus. I mean, I`m too young to die and everything and Angus still has things to do back in our world", Mae replied as if she were having a normal conversation at home, momentarily unaware of all the danger close by.

As the bear tried to call out to Gregg again, Angus noted how the drone Joy was fighting was taking most of the damage from the shots and giving some cover. Getting an idea, Angus then looked to the loose metal next to him on the destroyed drone and attempted to pull at it. "What are you doing Angus? This isn`t the time to study another drone or build another dimension transporter device", Mae exclaimed as Angus started to make some progress. "I`m not doing either Mae. Besides, the dimension traveling device we have is already secured", Angus said, nodding to the backpack he started wearing not long after leaving Monks. Kramer apparently heard what Angus said, since he leaned over a bit to comment.

 **If Jerry went with Mae and Catalina:** _"Whoa whoa whoa. Wait a second, you guys from another dimension have that kind of technology made? Dang it! I can`t believe I never let Kramerica Industries tackle an idea like that before!", Kramer exclaimed, looking like he had his mind blown._

 **If Jerry went with Angus and Joy:** _"Jerry, you wouldn`t believe it if you saw it! That makeshift device looks like something out of a sci-fi movie!", Kramer exclaimed. "Kramer, half the stuff I see you do is so odd it could be considered sci-fi", Jerry replied, though Kramer didn`t hear Jerrys words._

"Quick! Catalina and the other guy, pull a big enough piece of metal to use as a riot shield! We`ll be able to get close enough to Bea and Gregg without getting hit. This metal will be just strong enough for us to get close!", Angus called to Catalina and Kramer after he and Mae both pulled the huge sheet of metal off their drone.

"I don`t know if this will work. Can the metal even take enough hits from those attacks?", Jerry reluctantly said as he saw Joys drone get taken down accidently by a shot from Bea while Joy herself slid over to Catalina and Angus and started to help them get their own shield.

"We have no other choice. Can`t hide behind cover forever. Besides, the risk could be fun. Kinda like being on a SWAT team", Mae exclaimed, picturing herself as one in a childlike way. "But I don`t wanna be on a SWAT team. I don`t even know what to do if things go wrong", Jerry exclaimed, making Kramer and Catalina almost agree with him loudly out of fear. Seeing this (alongside Angus and Mae`s own small reluctance) brought some rage in Joy.

Yanking her own groups piece of metal free for use with her newfound stamina, Joy retorted to Jerrys comment by exclaiming to everyone, "See that ominous thing close to Mae and Angus` mesmerized buddies? That`s an exact copy of the device that destroyed my home world and sent me to God only knows where. You may not want to face the enemy like a real man, but I don`t wanna sit back here and watch this world get destroyed either. Trust me, if it happens, it won`t be pretty".

"She`s telling the truth. We need everyone on this. The more of us face those two animals, the better our odds of freeing them and your friends while also stopping the blast. What do you say?", Catalina suddenly said as she and Kramer had an icy blast sail over their heads. At this point, Bea and Greggs shots were steadily eroding the cover the group took, putting more pressure on the rest of the group as they watched their defense erode.

Looking briefly at George and Elaine near the chaos and the dimension eraser with a sense of dread, Jerry exclaimed, "You know what, I don`t wanna see this dimension get erased. Come on Cosmo and everyone else, let's stop the villains!"

"But Jerry, won`t we hurt George and Elaine if we attack them? These are our close friends we`re talking about here!", Kramer suddenly said. "You know Kramer, George told me back at Monks that he was going to steal the name H.E Pennypacker from you and use it all to himself. Whatdya say about that?", Jerry responded, making Kramer suddenly look dead serious about the upcoming fight.

After Kramer gave Jerry a nod of approval (accidently bonking his head against his cover a bit) and stood up holding his sides new shield, Mae and Angus also thanked Jerry for agreeing to help them save their friends and got up behind their own cover; a renewed sense of confidence within them. This was the time when the Gregg and Bea they knew and loved would be freed and returned back to their friends.

Together, the team of six started to steadily make their way to Bea, Gregg, the brainwashed human trio and the dimension eraser as the countdown kept steadily ticking. The two covers started taking damage from the impact of the freeze pistol blasts, but for the most part they worked in keeping anyone from getting hit.

"The cat was right Jerry! This is like being on the SWAT team!", Kramer exclaimed from the dangerous thrills he felt. "Yeah, guess you`re right. One favor though: don`t tell my parents about this when they return. Last thing I need is for them to worry", Jerry replied. "Who cares what your parents think? I just want to see some action get done here!", Joy said back as she steadied herself and recovered from a direct hit her shield took.

As Bea and Gregg continued to try and freeze their foes, the Boss contacted them through their devices again. "Alpha, Beta. What`s going on over there? Mal says he`s picking up an attack near the dimension eraser from your new technology", he instantly bereted. "Trying to stop six targets from approaching us and the dimension eraser", Bea answered as she tried to hit Mae in the foot and missed.

"What? Six targets? Were they the ones in front of that diner Mal mentioned to me when he came back to the ship? Some of them who were from the other dimensions by chance?", the boss asked, sounding madder by the second. "Affirmative", Gregg stated, not flinching at the tone.

For a moment the boss muttered profanity under his breathe, wondering how someone with a major role in conquering dimensions could do something so stupid at a critical time. He then did his best to quickly get a grip on the current situation and asked if the humans his drone army leaders "recruited" at the start of the attack were still under their command and with them.

"Yes they are. The two original guides from this world alongside this obese mailman are here", Bea replied looking at Elaine, George and Newman again. "Okay, I have a plan to get you both out of this dimension before it`s destroyed while also cutting a loose end that should have been taken care of by now. Listen to me closely Alpha and Beta…", the boss began.

When the team of six were a few yards from Bea and Gregg, their foes stopped firing at them and suddenly made an unexpected move alongside their captured humans. George, Elaine and Newman suddenly became active again and moved forward, screaming and charging at the two makeshift shields with the intent to destroy them.

"What the eff is going on!?", Mae exclaimed, caught off guard completely. "Maybe we should retreat! That doesn`t sound like a bad idea!", Kramer responded, feeling freaked out by the sight of Elaine dashing straight towards him. "No! Stand strong and persevere!", Catalina shouted as she braced herself for the attack.

As Bea and Greggs "ally`s" reached the group and started to fight (making them struggle not to be overwhelmed by the surprising amount of sheer force thrown at them), the fox and alligator suddenly put their freeze pistols away and carried out the new orders the boss gave them.

 **Authors note** _ **: At this point, the choice the player made in front of Monks comes into play again. Whichever Possum Springs resident Jerry went after will fight while the other will stay back.**_

 _ **The decision made will also affect this story in future arcs, so try to remember who`s saved and who`s still in the hands of the enemy whenever a chapter has Gregg or Bea involved.**_


	39. Seinfeld- Part 6 (Bea boss fight)

**If Jerry went after Bea and George** :

As the six continued to try and keep Elaine, George and Newman from hurting them, Bea suddenly charged forward to launch her own attack while Gregg bolted to the dimension eraser and stood behind it, guarding it with his life as he tried to signal more drones to come over.

The makeshift shields both parties held were knocked away from their hands, prompting a huge person (or animal) to person brawl to break out between the free-willed and the mind controlled. Though they were outnumbered, Elaine and George put up a huge fight against Kramer, Catalina, Angus and Joy while Newman gave Jerry a real challenge with his new athletic strengths.

Bea ended up attacking Mae on her own, throwing punch after punch that the feline managed to block. "Come on, at least make this a challenge!", the alligator exclaimed, wondering why Mae didn`t do her own attacks on her.

"Come on Beabea! Don`t make me hurt you! I know the real version of you is there somehow! Remember all the crazy things we did in our childhoods and this year?!", Mae begged before a surprise kick to the gut sent her to the ground.

As Mae gasped and tried to get up, she saw Bea pull out her freeze pistol again and aimed it at her. "A memo from my boss: This is for all the trouble you and everyone in every world put me through", "What!?", Mae exclaimed, caught off guard a bit by what was said. Ignoring the felines question, Bea looked ready to pull the trigger when Jerry suddenly shouted behind her that four drones were coming.

This reveal caused Joy and Angus to suddenly run forward in an attempt to handle the new approaching foes, with Joy unintentionally ramming into Bea and sending her to the ground where her freeze pistol broke.

As Angus briefly stopped and helped Mae get back on her feet, the two Possum Springs residents watched as the alligator looked at her destroyed weapon that lay on the ground and then at them, with murder in her soulless eyes. This managed to make Mae feel frightened, yet also more urgent in taking down the evil facing her to get her friend back.

Jerry suddenly stumbled past Bea and stopped next to Mae and Angus, with Newman (who had thrown him back) halting his one-man attack on the comedian to help the Alpha get back on her own feet. Behind them, Catalina and Kramer had put some space between them and the latter's two possessed friends, who apparently stopped attacking and processed the situation for the next round of attacks.

"Angus! Help me now!", Joy shouted behind the bear as she dodged a set of freeze blasts from the approaching drones, doing her best to keep them from joining the fight. Looking at Bea, Angus and the drones approaching behind her, Mae took a deep breath and told her last remaining friend to go and help Joy while she and Jerry freed Bea from the devices.

"Don`t forget Gregg!", Angus called looking at his boyfriend momentarily as he ran after Joy, making Mae promise she wouldn`t.

Bea and Newman then charged at Jerry and Mae again, with Mae throwing some punches this time at the alligator (though they were aimed at the mind control tech on her). "So, the kitty cat finally grew a spine. Well done", Bea taunted as her other two allies fought their own pair of foes again.

As the fighters shifted positons causing Jerry, Kramer, Catalina and Mae to be together on one end with the four opponents on the other, Mae only responded to Bea, "I`m doing this fight to help my friend return. You`ll thank me when this is over" and stopped talking, focusing on getting the win in this battle.

 **Fight 5-4 (Bea version)**

 _ **Fighters to select**_ :

 **-Mae**

 **-Jerry**

 **-Kramer**

 **-Catalina**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-Bea**

 **-George**

 **-Elaine**

 **-Newman**

After the fight: During the fight between the two groups, Mae and her teammates managed to take out all of Bea`s remaining ally's (apart from Gregg) one by one. George, Elaine and Newman fell to the ground unconscious with their collars fading away while Angus and Joy made steady progress with destroying the four backup drones.

Though she didn`t show it on the outside, Bea started to become fearful within on the thought of actually being defeated. She tried to put up a stand and even attempted to use her mind control technology for another backup fighter, but Kramer destroyed that part of her new attire with a karate chop, saying he was making sure it was literally out of the wrong hands.

Feeling increasingly exhausted and weakened from the hits she took, Bea attempted to signal the boss or Gregg (her thoughts were too confused to know what she was doing at this point exactly) when she fell to her knees, too tired to even stand up.

As Angus and Joy took down the last backup drone in the background, Mae got to Bea first in her defeated state and pulled at the headband while Catalina and Kramer frantically tugged at the damaged collar. Jerry just stood back and watched the events unfold before noticing George and Elaine stir, prompting him to rush over and check on them. As he did, he considered also checking on Newman, though the sound of him snoring made Jerry change his mind and focus entirely on his friends.

When the headband was mostly off her and her eyes started to look normal again, Bea began to resist slightly, making Mae shout at her friend to stop and that it would all be over soon. A split second after Mae said this, the headband came off with a loud snap and sent the feline flying back with the device, making Bea let out what could best be described as a robotic howl.

After making sure all the drones were down for good and that there weren't any more coming nearby, Angus and Joy rushed back to everyone else. The moment they arrived, Elaine and George sat up dazed and back to normal (or as normal as they usually were).

"Jerry? Is that you? Speak to me!", George said aloud as he took off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, wondering how he got to the outskirts of the city and with little memory of doing so. "Yes, it`s me George. I can`t believe I`m saying this, but it`s good to see you in your normal state of mind again", Jerry replied as he leaned over to check on Elaine.

"Oh Jerry, I had the strangest dream. I was in it, you were in it, Kramer was in it, these animals and mystery women were in it…", Elaine began as she hugged Jerry, trying not to let a strong headache she had bother her. "And I wasn`t in it? What am I Elaine, useless?!", George exclaimed forgetting his confusion for a moment. Before he could rant some more, he saw Angus and let out a startled cry, remembering the events in front of Monks.

"What is it this time George? I…oh my God! It wasn`t a dream!", Elaine exclaimed before looking up and also seeing Angus, prompting her own memories to fully return. "Don`t worry. Calm down. I`m not a threat. Let me explain", Angus quickly began before another shout from Bea got his and everyone else`s attention.

Mae had stood back up and pitched the mind control band aside while Kramer was shouting instructions to Catalina on how to pull the collar like a doctor on a soap opera.

"We`re losing her nurse! It`s about to become a code blue! Need more whatever it is you use on the patient!", he hollered as the collar started to crack. "I don`t even know what you mean!", Catalina shouted back, blocking a swipe of Beas claw as she put more effort into her own pulling.

Mae attempted to rush over to help again while George and Elaine stood up and watched alongside everyone else, still trying to process how they ended up outside the city with this scenario playing out in front of them alongside anthro animals.

Seeing the looks on their faces made Joy lean over and say she`d catch them up to speed later before noticing Angus had left the group to confront Gregg, who apparently was talking to the boss in an urgent tone.

"Angus! Wait! Don`t attack him alone! You saw how your other friend fought!", Joy hollered sprinting after the bear. A moment later, Catalina, Kramer and Mae ripped the collar off of Bea with a loud clanging noise. The alligator let out one final holler before she fell to the ground stunned and unconscious.

"Is she…", Mae nervously began as she immediately poked her friend's cheek, seeing her unresponsive. "I can see her breathing. She`ll live", Kramer said with a sense of professionalism when he noticed the alligator inhale and exhale softly.

As Catalina gently picked up the gator and noted how she looked up close for the first time while Mae also kept a concerned eye on her friend's well-being, a loud shout was suddenly heard, drawing everyone's full attention to Angus and Gregg next to the dimension eraser.

Angus was trying to pull his still brainwashed boyfriend away from the device by grabbing onto one of his arms. As the fox strongly resisted, he fired his freeze pistol on the ground and made Joy slip and fall before she could come to Angus` aid.

"Hurry up and send me to the next dimension boss! The Alpha has been taken by the enemy! I repeat, the Alpha has been taken by the enemy!", Gregg stated in his contact device as he tried to freeze Angus, missing all the shots.

"Oh-no! The dimension eraser! I almost forgot!", Catalina shrieked as she handed Bea over to Mae and sprinted over to help Angus.

"Wait, dimension eraser!? That thing is going to erase this world from existence!?", George exclaimed in a panic as he looked at the device ahead of him clearly for the first time, all while Catalina reached the conflict and tried to take the headband off Gregg, failing at every attempt. "Of course it will. Why else would it be called that!?", Jerry exclaimed to George before he and Kramer dashed forward, hoping they could defuse the weapon by luck.

Mae wobbled her way over to George and Elaine while trying to set Bea down gently. As she did, she introduced herself and awkwardly offered a handshake. Elaine and George both halfheartedly accepted it as they continued to watch the action in front of them, wondering where it would go in dread and amazement.

Before Jerry and Kramer could get to Joy, Catalina and Angus` aid, the fox threw a series of punches that sent everyone near him back a few feet. He then fired a warning shot high in the air with his freeze pistol, which kept Jerry and Kramer back themselves.

"Too late everyone. Say goodnight to this world in ten seconds", Gregg taunted before his mind control devices glowed, setting off a command that caused him to vanish into thin air.

As Angus tried not to think he lost his one guaranteed chance to save Gregg, Joy and Catalina shook off the pain they got from the last attacks and looked at the dimension eraser, now with more alarm than ever. "Oh snap!", Joy exclaimed.

"What!? What is it!?", Kramer asked as he and Jerry watched the trio sprint by him. While Kramer continued to look at them in bafflement, Jerry got a clear look of the devices countdown and saw that it was going to erupt in less than five seconds.

In what felt like slow motion, Jerry let out a scream, grabbed his friend by the arm and started to drag him away. "Everyone run!", he yelled at the top of his lungs, prompting Elaine and George to start sprinting from the dimension eraser themselves while Mae struggled to pick up Bea again.

Newman, who was still out cold up to this point, suddenly woke up and looked around awkwardly. He let out a scream as everyone else ran by him (narrowly trampling him) and then let out a louder terrified yelp when he witnessed the dimension eraser go off, beckoning a wave of electricity towards him.

The warning shot Gregg fired in the air suddenly came back down and hit Newman, freezing him and levitating him into thin air before the electricity could reach him, giving him a more merciful exit from the end of the world.

Joy and Catalina looked behind them as they kept running and hoped they would be somehow spared from the impact this time. Unfortunately, the two women alongside Jerry, George, Elaine, Kramer, Angus, Mae and Bea all got swallowed up by the wave and found themselves out of a dimension, with most of them screaming wildly (except Kramer, who shouted "Serenity Now!").

In less than five minutes, the Nothing-verse was completely swallowed up by the wave and officially left with nothing in existence.


	40. Seinfeld- Part 6 (Gregg boss fight)

**If Jerry went after Gregg and Elaine:**

As the six continued to try and keep Elaine, George and Newman from hurting them, Gregg suddenly charged forward to launch his own attack while Bea bolted to the dimension eraser and stood behind it, guarding it with her life as she tried to signal more drones to come over.

The makeshift shields both parties held were knocked away from their hands, prompting a huge person (or animal) to person brawl to break out between the free-willed and the mind controlled. Though they were outnumbered, Elaine and George put up a huge fight against Kramer, Catalina, Mae and Joy while Newman gave Jerry a real challenge with his new athletic strengths.

Gregg ended up attacking Angus on his own, launching a series of punches and kicks that the bear struggled to avoid. "Fight back you pain in the ass! Make a move against me!", the fox challenged when he noticed Angus had no intention to counter strike.

"Please Gregg, you know I can`t do that to you! You mean everything to me! Try to remember the good times we had back in Possum Springs. The crimes, the hangouts…", Angus pleaded before a kick to the gut sent him to the ground.

As Angus wheezed from the surprise hit, he saw Gregg pull out his freeze pistol again and aimed it at him. "A memo from my boss: This is for all the trouble you and everyone in every world put me through", "Huh!?", Angus exclaimed, completely caught off guard by what was said. Ignoring the bears question, Gregg looked ready to pull the trigger when Jerry suddenly shouted behind him that four drones were coming.

This reveal caused Catalina and Mae to suddenly run forward in an attempt to handle the new approaching foes, with Catalina unintentionally ramming into Gregg and sending him to the ground where his freeze pistol broke.

As Mae briefly stopped and helped Angus get back on his feet, the two Possum Springs residents watched as the fox tossed his now damaged weapon aside with murder sparking from his soulless eyes. This managed to make Angus feel scared. Another moment later, he realized the other option involving fighting back was his only choice.

Jerry suddenly stumbled past Gregg and stopped next to Mae and Angus, with Newman (who had thrown him back) halting his one-man attack on the comedian to help the Beta get back on his own feet. Behind them, Joy and Kramer had put some space between them and the latter's two possessed friends, who apparently stopped attacking and processed the situation for the next round of attacks.

"Mae! I need help!", Catalina shouted behind the cat as she evaded a set of freeze blasts from the approaching drones, doing her best to keep them from joining the fight. Looking at Gregg, Mae and the drones approaching behind him, Angus took a deep breath and told his last remaining friend to go and help Catalina while he and Jerry freed Gregg from the devices.

"Don`t forget Bea!", Mae called looking towards her friend for a moment as she ran towards Catalina, making Angus promise he wouldn`t.

Gregg and Newman then charged at Jerry and Angus again, with Angus throwing some punches this time at the fox (though they were aimed at the mind control tech on him). "You still think you can win a fight against me you wimp?", Gregg taunted as his other two allies fought their own pair of foes again.

As the fighters shifted positons causing Jerry, Kramer, Joy and Angus to be together on one side with the four opponents on the other, Angus only responded to Gregg, "If it`s a fight to get the wild card scofflaw I love back, I know I`ll win" and stopped talking, focusing on getting the win in this battle.

 **Fight 5-4 (Gregg version)**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Angus**

 **-Jerry**

 **-Joy**

 **-Kramer**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-Gregg**

 **-George**

 **-Elaine**

 **-Newman**

After the fight: During the fight between the two groups, Angus and his teammates managed to take out all of Gregg`s remaining ally's (apart from Bea) one by one. George, Elaine and Newman fell to the ground unconscious with their collars fading away while Catalina and Mae made steady progress with destroying the four backup drones.

Though he didn`t show it on the outside, Gregg started to become enraged within on the thought of actually being defeated. He tried to muster up a second wind and even attempted to use his mind control technology for another backup fighter, but Kramer destroyed that part of his new attire with a karate chop, saying he was making sure it was literally out of the wrong hands.

Feeling increasingly exhausted and weakened from the hits he took, Gregg attempted to signal the boss or Bea (his thoughts were too confused to know what he was doing at this point exactly) when he fell to his knees, too tired to even stand up.

As Mae and Catalina took down the last backup drone in the background, Angus got to Gregg first in his defeated state and pulled at the headband while Joy and Kramer frantically tugged at the damaged collar. Jerry just stood back and watched the events unfold before noticing George and Elaine stir, prompting him to rush over and check on them. As he did, he considered also checking on Newman, though the sound of him snoring made Jerry change his mind and focus entirely on his friends.

When the headband was mostly off him and his eyes started to look normal again, Gregg began to resist slightly, prompting Angus tell at his lover that seeing him like this hurt, but it was for his own good. A split second after Angus said this, the headband came off with a loud snap and sent the bear flying back with the device, making Gregg let out what could best be described as a set of yelping noises.

After making sure all the drones were down for good and that there weren't any more coming nearby, Mae and Catalina rushed back to everyone else. The moment they arrived, Elaine and George sat up dazed and back to normal (or as normal as they usually were).

"Jerry? Is that you? Speak to me!", George said aloud as he took off his glasses and rubbing his eyes, wondering how he got to the outskirts of the city and with little memory of doing so. "Yes, it`s me George. I can`t believe I`m saying this, but it`s good to see you in your normal state of mind again", Jerry replied as he leaned over to check on Elaine.

"Oh Jerry, I had the strangest dream. I was in it, you were in it, Kramer was in it, these animals and mystery women were in it…", Elaine began as she hugged Jerry, trying not to let a strong headache she had bother her. "And I wasn`t in it? What am I Elaine, useless?!", George exclaimed forgetting his confusion for a moment. Before he could rant some more, he saw Mae and let out a startled cry, remembering the events in front of Monks.

"What is it this time George? I…oh my God! It wasn`t a dream!", Elaine exclaimed before looking up and also seeing Mae, prompting her own memories to fully return. "Wait, don`t run away screaming like I`m a horror movie monster. Let me explain", Mae quickly started before another shout from Gregg got her and everyone else`s attention.

Angus had stood back up and pitched the mind control band aside while Kramer was shouting instructions to Joy on how to pull the collar like a doctor on a soap opera.

"We`re losing him nurse! It`s about to become a code blue! Need more whatever it is you use on the patient!", he hollered as the collar started to crack. "Cut out the fancy doctor talk and let me concentrate!", Joy shouted back, countering a swipe from Gregg as she put more effort into her own pulling.

Angus attempted to rush over to help again while George and Elaine stood up and watched alongside everyone else, still trying to process how they ended up outside the city with this scenario playing out in front of them alongside anthro animals.

Seeing the looks on their faces made Catalina lean over and say she`d catch them up to speed later before noticing Mae had left the group to confront Bea, who apparently was talking to the boss in an urgent tone.

"Mae! Wait! Don`t face her by yourself! You know how dangerous Gregg was alone!", Catalina hollered sprinting after the cat. A moment later, Joy, Kramer and Angus ripped the collar off of Gregg with a loud clanging noise. The fox let out one final holler before he fell to the ground stunned and unconscious.

"Is he…", Angus nervously began as he immediately checked his boyfriends pulse, seeing him unresponsive. "I can see him breathing. He`ll live", Kramer said with a sense of professionalism when he noticed the fox inhale and exhale softly.

As Joy passively picked up the fox and noted how he looked up close for the first time while Angus also kept a concerned eye on his lovers well-being, a loud shout was suddenly heard, drawing everyone's full attention to Mae and Bea next to the dimension eraser.

Mae was trying to pull her still brainwashed friend away from the device by grabbing onto one of her arms. As the alligator strongly resisted, she fired her freeze pistol on the ground and made Catalina slip and fall before she could come to Mae`s aid.

"Hurry up and send me to the next dimension boss! The Beta has been taken by the enemy! I repeat, the Beta has been taken by the enemy!", Bea stated in her contact device as she tried to freeze Mae, missing all the shots.

"Oh snap! The dimension eraser thingy! I forgot about it!", Joy shrieked as she handed Gregg over to Angus and sprinted over to help Mae.

"Wait, dimension eraser!? That thing is going to erase this world from existence!?", George exclaimed in a panic as he looked at the device ahead of him clearly for the first time, all while Joy reached the conflict and tried to take the headband off Bea, failing at every attempt. "Of course it will. Why else would it be called that!?", Jerry exclaimed to George before he and Kramer dashed forward, hoping they could defuse the weapon by luck.

Angus walked his way over to George and Elaine while trying to set Gregg down gently. As he did, he introduced himself and awkwardly offered a handshake. Elaine and George both halfheartedly accepted it as they continued to watch the action in front of them, wondering where it would go in dread and amazement.

Before Jerry and Kramer could get to Joy, Catalina and Mae`s aid, the alligator threw a series of punches that sent everyone near her back a few feet. She then fired a warning shot high in the air with her freeze pistol, which kept Jerry and Kramer back themselves.

"Too late everyone. Say goodnight to this world in ten seconds", Bea taunted before her mind control devices glowed, setting off a command that caused her to vanish into thin air.

As Mae tried to comprehend the fact that she saw her friend effortlessly disappeared, Joy and Catalina shook off the pain they got from the last attacks and looked at the dimension eraser, now with more alarm than ever. "Oh snap!", Joy exclaimed.

"What!? What is it!?", Kramer asked as he and Jerry watched the trio suddenly sprint by him. While Kramer continued to look at them in bafflement, Jerry got a clear look of the devices countdown and saw that it was now going to erupt in less than five seconds.

In what felt like slow motion, Jerry let out a panicked scream, grabbed his friend by the arm and started to drag him away. "Everyone run!", he yelled at the top of his lungs, prompting Elaine and George to start sprinting from the dimension eraser themselves while Angus struggled to pick up Gregg again.

Newman, who was still out cold up to this point, suddenly woke up and looked around awkwardly. He let out a scream as everyone else ran by him (narrowly getting trampled) and then let out a louder terrified yelp when he witnessed the dimension eraser go off, beckoning a wave of electricity towards him.

The warning shot Bea fired in the air suddenly came back down and hit Newman, freezing him and levitating him into thin air before the electricity could reach him, giving him a more merciful exit from the end of the world.

Joy and Catalina looked behind them as they kept running and hoped they would be somehow spared from the impact this time. Unfortunately, the two women alongside Jerry, George, Elaine, Kramer, Mae, Angus and Gregg all got swallowed up by the wave and found themselves out of a dimension, with most of them screaming wildly (except Kramer, who shouted "Serenity Now!").

In less than five minutes, the Nothing-verse was completely swallowed up by the wave and officially left with nothing in existence.


	41. Seinfeld- Final

As soon as they were all swallowed up by the electric wave and in the familiar falling void of blackness between dimensions Joy, Catalina, Mae and Angus quickly got a grip on the experience and did their best to remain calm while Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer all started to scream and panic, totally mystified by their own first time in the place.

"Jerry! What`s going on!?", George screamed to his friend over the whooshing sounds as he spun around helplessly. "I don`t know! It looks like we went through the end of the world or something!", Jerry shouted back as he nearly collided into Kramer.

"This is what experiencing the aftermath of end of the world is like?! Not what I expected!", Elaine called to Jerry after taking a moment to shake off the desire to throw up. "Well, what did you expect after the end of the world? A parade or gateway to the afterlife?", Jerry called back.

"No, I thought it`d be something really extraordinary! Like seeing the whole entire universe before your very eyes!", Elaine answered. "Well, as you can tell there`s not much to see here!", Jerry replied as he gestured at the emptiness, making Elaine roll her eyes and retort, "Your annoying wit is still intact, so there`s something!".

George suddenly replayed some of the events that happened before the explosion and realized something. "Guys! Wait, maybe we`re not dead and the world isn`t over! In fact, maybe there was no official end of the world!", he frantically exclaimed.

"Oh brother! Looks like George was the first one to lose his mind from denial! Big surprise!", Elaine bemoaned. "And it also looks like someone else`s annoying wit also stayed intact", Jerry told himself before deciding to join in on the conversation.

"No no no! Just listen to me! Listen! If I`m not mistaken, I believe that the thing that hit our world was called a dimension eraser, right?!", George asked, putting emphasis on the word dimension. "Now that you mention it, I believe you are right!", Jerry answered. "Exactly! If that bomb or whatever destroyed our dimension, then it could mean that somewhere else life is going on! Another dimension that is unaffected! Maybe we can find that place and get out of here!", George stated.

Right away, a look of hope and excitement appeared on Elaine's face. Every time George made an assumption to something…basically with everything in life…it was way off. Here, he was finally bringing up an idea that had credibility.

Before she could stop herself, Elaine then leaned forward and shoved George, shouting, "Get out!", and sent him flying away from the group. As George screamed in panic and flailed his arms more frantically than ever, a look of regret came to Elaine's face, prompting her to try and reach him with slow progress.

Jerry, who watched the whole event with some secret mild amusement, turned to Kramer. "Hey Cosmo, did you hear what…", "Hold that thought Jerry, I think those other world people and animals are doing something about this situation!", Kramer shouted to Jerry, pointing him in the direction of the other four.

Looking at the cat, bear and two women, Jerry noticed that Joy was slowly unzipping the backpack Angus wore in an attempt to get the dimension teleporting device while the rest of her party was looking upward and reaching for someone, which they were doing the whole time in this area.

 _If Gregg was freed:_ Above him, Angus managed to grab his still unconscious boyfriend by his arm and pulled him closer, with Catalina and Mae aiding him. As he hugged the fox, Angus looked at Gregg and said quietly, "Don`t worry bug. I`ve got you. Nobody will take you away again with me here". _If Bea was freed:_ Above her, Mae managed to grab her still unconscious friend by her arm and pulled her closer, with Catalina and Angus aiding her. As she clung onto the alligator, Mae looked at Bea and said, "Don`t worry. You`re safe now. Nobody can get you or any of us here".

"Look, I hate to break up the reunion you opossum residents, but we really need to get back to your world with your friend! I`m no doc but I know a bed and some of that fancy medicine may be needed for the saved party!", Joy hollered as she fully pulled out Angus` makeshift transporter and fumbled it a little, nearly having it slip from her grasp.

Kramer suddenly shouted loud enough to get the other groups attention as Elaine and George both started to come back to him and Jerry. "Hey, if you got something that can take us back to safety can we come too!? Please!? I really don`t wanna be left behind here forever possibly!", "Same here!", Jerry added before George slightly bumped into him from behind.

The other group of four looked at each other in pondering before Mae exclaimed, "Maybe we should take them with us back to Possum Springs!...

 _(If Jerry chose to go after Bea): …_ Jerry did help me and Catalina out in his world, and I know the guy with the odd hair also aided you Angus!", "To set the record straight, my hair isn`t odd. It`s natural!", Kramer called back, adding an accent on the last word.

 _(If Jerry chose to go after Gregg): …_ Kramer did help me and Catalina out in his world, and that kooky man also aided you Angus!", "Hey, that`s Mr. Kooky to you miss feline!", Jerry called back, though he knew that with his profession that assertion wasn`t far off.

"If you wanna come with us, you`d best get here! I`m starting to lose my grip on the device!", Joy answered, struggling to keep the dimension teleporter from flying out of her hands.

As Jerry and his friends awkwardly began to move over doing swimming motions, Catalina began to tilt forward to help Joy hold onto the device when she noticed something reddish appear below her.

Before she or anyone could say anything or react, Catalina and the other eight dimension travelers found themselves hitting a sandy surface with a loud "poof" sound upon impact.

…

…

…

For an unknown amount of time, Jerry felt no consciousness after he`d landed on the sand. However, as soon as he felt someone shake him and order him to get up, he managed to blink and noticed a very grainy sight of Elaine.

"Jerry, come on. You`re about to go onstage in ten seconds!", Elaine ordered. "But I`m not ready. I don`t even have any routines planned out", Jerry whined, though he still focused on getting out of the blackness and back into his normal state of thought.

As soon as the blurry view of Elaine became clear and he made sure nothing was broken, Jerry let out a sigh of relief. "Jerry. Hey Jerry, you with us?", Elaine immediately asked, snapping her fingers in his face. "Yeah. Where else would I be? It`s not like I…wait, this is definitely not New York. Damn it, our home world really did get destroyed. Where are we?", Jerry asked swiping the fingers away from him before noticing his surroundings entirely for the first time.

As Elaine gave a shrug, obviously as confused as he was, Jerry slowly stood up and noticed he was in a desert as far as the eye could see in all the directions. After he gazed at the ominous dark clouds above and tried not to feel helpless and intimidated by the surrounding, Jerry turned to Elaine again, about to ask her what happened while he was out cold.

A sudden, "Oh snap!", cut the question off, turning Jerry and Elaine's full attention to Joy, who was not too far away and completely alright as well. She was squatting down and looking panicked next to the teleporter device, which was broken from the surprise landing.

As Jerry and Elaine walked over to her, the duo took a better look at their surroundings and noticed everyone else for the first time, all of them as alive as they were.

George had landed not too far away from Jerry and had stood up, trying to find his glasses while screaming out his frustrations that he couldn`t see a damn thing out here. Next to him, Catalina woke up from her own unconsciousness and sat up, wondering what a pair of glasses was doing right next to her.

Across from Joy, Kramer had pulled his submerged head out from under the sand and shook his hair clean of the substance like a dog. "Hey, easy boy! Down boy!", Joy hollered as some of the sand got on her, making her get the urge to hit the guy with a rolled up newspaper. Right away, Kramer apologized and begged Joy for forgiveness, nearly whining. "Damn, and I thought Earls dummy brother was loony", Joy couldn`t help but comment to herself the second before Jerry and Elaine got to her.

"What do you two want? Here to drive me up the wall like your buddy?", Joy immediately asked the duo before Kramer got up and excitedly hugged his friends, happy to see them while frantically saying that he thought for a moment they didn`t make it.

"Easy Kramer, settle down. We`re happy to see you too… No, we were just wondering about the device. From what I gathered already, it sends us to other dimensions, right?", Jerry asked gently shoving Kramer away before looking at the device again.

At this moment, Kramer got ahold of himself and looked around baffled, nearly falling from the shock.

As Elaine helped steady him and begun speaking to him with a concerned tone about where they were, Joy looked at the device and then at Jerry before saying bitterly, "Well, if you were talking about what this baby could do in the past, then your assumptions would be spot on. However, this thing is now busted and deader than my Grandma. We can`t go anywhere with it in this state!"

Feeling a sense of rage, Joy punched the machine, causing Jerry to try and settle her down. As he did, Catalina hesitatingly approached George in the background with his glasses, with the man waving his arms around and shouting like crazy for some reason.

"Listen, I know things aren't going well for any of us what with my world being…erased from existence ("Understatement of the year", Joy commented to herself) but we don`t need our only possible ticket out of here destroyed even more", Jerry told Joy, prompting her to take a few deep breathes.

When Joy became calm enough, she agreed with the last thing Jerry said and carefully picked up the device. "Maybe you`re onto something. This thing could still be fixed like my trailer when it was flipped over that one time", she said. "Good, can you repair it?", Jerry asked eagerly as Elaine and Kramer returned with George and Catalina also approaching (George having his glasses back on).

Letting out a laugh, Joy told Jerry, "I`m not the one who built this thing funny man. That anthro bear was the brains behind this thing. Speaking of which, any of you see him or his friends anywhere?"

As if the universe decided to answer the question (and right before George could reach his friends and rant about everything that was going wrong today), a figure suddenly appeared from behind a mound of sand and looked at the human groups direction, getting all their attention at once.

 **[Follow the path of who you saved. Once you get to the end of their section, read the flashback section next]**

 _If Bea was freed from the mind control:_ As soon as she knew she wasn`t seeing a hallucination, a look of excitement appeared on Mae`s face. "Angus, Bea, I found them! They`re over here!", the feline shouted, wildly gesturing to someone behind the mound.

A moment later, Bea walked into view as well with a dazed look on her face. That look turned to alarm when George fully noticed her and screamed, "AHH! It`s her! The alligator that helped destroy our home world! Get her!"

Right away he, Elaine and Kramer charged towards Bea like an angry mob, making the alligator back away in panic while Mae stood in front of her, despite knowing her defense wouldn`t last long. However, Mae`s attempts became pointless as Joy, Catalina and Jerry all chased and grabbed the angry trio before they got to her, holding them back and yelling at them to calm down.

"Why are you defending her Jerry?! You saw what she did to me at Monks!", George yelled as he fought to escape his friends grasp. "She was brainwashed and acting against her will! Did you guys forget that bit of information?!", Catalina replied, making everyone calm down.

As Joy let him go, Kramer looked at Bea again with a bit of shame and said, "Sorry. Guess all that flying in the nothingness and the hard landing made some things slip the old noggin", "Yeah. Can`t believe I went insane there", Elaine added, looking equally guilty.

As Bea started to look a bit calmer, she managed to tell George, "I…I was told by my friend here that I took control of you when I was…you know. I didn`t remember doing it under that technology, but I still feel I owe you an apology."

"Fine. Fine. To be fair, I`ve actually felt mentally worse in some old relationships now that I think about it. Being mind controlled felt…like I was in a whole new state of thought never explored before", George answered, suddenly recalling some things.

"Yeah, same here. It felt like I was awake, but in a dream. Like there were problems, yet nothing conflicting me", Elaine couldn`t help but add, gazing out into the distance for a moment as she tried to recall all the feelings she`d felt.

Bea then looked towards Joy and Catalina. "I`m guessing you must be the new friends Mae`s mentioned. After I woke up and asked what happened, she talked about you two during an excited ramble. Said you helped out with your own cool ways", "Yes. That`s us, doing things cool. Nice to meet the real you…I guess", Catalina said awkwardly, with Bea giving a small nod.

After a moment of awkward silence, Joy cleared her throat and said, "Listen, I know y`all been through a lot, we all have in fact, but getting out of this place and back to the animal's world is still the number uno priority. Where is Angus Mae?"

Rather than say anything, Mae suddenly looked concerned and pointed behind the mound, causing everyone to walk forward and look. They saw Angus curled up in a ball, clearly upset and doing his best not to cry. "When he woke up and realized that Gregg wasn`t saved, he seemed to…", Bea began, a look of guilt on her face.

 _Damn_ , Bea thought, _It looked like me and Gregg both needed help, and my rescue cost Angus his lover._

Angus suddenly stood up and walked over to Bea, a hardened emotionless look on his face. "What happened?", he asked the alligator when he reached her.

"Wait, can you be a bit more specific?", Mae asked, butting in before Bea could answer. "Yeah, do you think your friend knows the technology behind dimension erasing? Like she picked up some things in her brainwashed state? Maybe…nah. Even I don`t think Kramerica Industries should go into that territory", Kramer added, making Jerry elbow him and curtly tell him to shush it.

A glare from Angus silenced both Mae and Kramer, making them step back while Jerry and Catalina looked ready to defend Bea, thinking things were going to get violent from the bears grief.

Seeing the scared and defensive looks on everyone's faces made Angus notice how hostile he was. Taking a moment to clear his head, he gave a small apologetic look and tried again. "Bea, I need to know what happened to Gregg. How did he turn into…how did he become brainwashed?", he asked in a more controlled tone.

Bea looked at Mae and everyone else in discomfort, a bad memory playing in her head. Mae looked ready to say something again but Bea held up a hand to stop her. "No, I need to tell you all what happened. It`d probably be best if you all heard what I experienced at once".

At that moment, everyone listened in on Bea`s story as she started, this time staying uninterrupted.

 _If Gregg was freed from the mind control:_ As soon as he knew he wasn`t seeing a hallucination, a look of excitement appeared on Angus` face. "Gregg, Mae, I found them! They`re over here!", the bear shouted, wildly gesturing to someone behind the mound.

A moment later, Gregg walked into view as well with a confused look on his face. That look turned to alarm when Elaine fully noticed him and screamed, "AHH! It`s him! The fox that helped erase our home from existence! Get him!"

Right away she, George and Kramer charged towards Gregg like an angry mob, making the fox yelp and hug Angus in a panic. Angus in turn told Gregg to get behind him, looking like he`d start to hurt anyone who came close. However, Angus` plan became unnecessary as Joy, Catalina and Jerry all chased and grabbed the angry trio before they got to him, holding them back and yelling at them to calm down.

"Let go of me Jerry! After what happened at Monks, who knows how dangerous that being is?!", Elaine yelled as she fought to escape her friends grasp. "He was brainwashed and acting against his will! Did you guys forget that bit of information?!", Catalina replied, making everyone calm down.

As Joy let him go, Kramer looked at Gregg again with a bit of shame and said, "Sorry. Guess all that flying in the nothingness and the hard landing made some things slip the old noggin", "Yeah, guess we really went overboard there", George added, trying not to get involved in the sudden odd moment.

As Gregg started to look a bit calmer, he managed to tell Elaine, "My boyfriend here just said that I brainwashed you when I was…more out of control than usual. I didn`t remember much, but I feel I owe an apology."

"Yeah, okay then. No need to feel sorry. I gotta say though that being under your control was the weirdest state of mind I ever went through. It feels… kinda complex to explain", Elaine answered, suddenly recalling some things.

"Yeah, same here. It felt like I was awake, but in a dream. Like there were problems, yet nothing conflicting me", George couldn`t help but add, gazing out into the distance for a moment as he tried to recall all the feelings he`d felt.

Gregg then looked towards Joy and Catalina. "So you must be the Joy and Catalina Angus mentioned. When I woke up, he mentioned you after I asked what happened. Said you did cool crimes along the way", "Yes. I mean, I didn`t break any laws…okay, maybe. But it was for a good cause…", Catalina began, with Gregg giving a teasing look.

After a moment of awkward silence, Joy cleared her throat and said, "Listen, I know y`all been through a lot, we all have in fact, but getting out of this place and back to the animal's world is still the number uno priority. Think you can patch this travel tool up Angus? Got a little busted", before showing Angus the device.

However, Angus didn`t really get a good look at it right away, as he glanced behind the mound. "Hey, I`m talking to you!", Joy called out. "What? Sorry Joy. It`s just that Mae has been apprehensive since we got here", Angus said, prompting everyone to walk over to look behind the mound.

Right away, Mae was seen pacing around apprehensively, with a look of failure and guilt on her face. "She`s been like that since she woke up and realized that Bea wasn`t saved", Gregg explained, a look of guilt on his face.

 _Damn_ , Gregg though, _It looked like me and my friend both needed help, and my rescue cost Mae her gal pal._

Mae suddenly noticed everyone and approached Gregg, an unsettling unpredictable look on her face. "What happened?", she asked the fox when she reached him, nearly screaming.

"Wait, can you be a bit more specific?", George asked, butting in before Gregg could answer. "Yeah, do you think your friend knows the technology behind dimension erasing? Like he picked up some things in his brainwashed state? Maybe…nah. Even I don`t think Kramerica Industries should go into that territory", Kramer added, making Jerry elbow him and curtly tell him to shush it.

A nightmare eyes look silenced both George and Kramer, making them step back while Jerry and Elaine looked ready to intervene if Mae did something too desperate or ballistic out of her anxiety.

Seeing the nervous and defensive looks on everyone's faces made Mae notice how confronting she was. Taking a moment to clear her head, she gave a small apologetic look and tried again. "Gregg, I need to know what happened to Bea. How did she turn into a…how did she get brainwashed?", she asked, watching the tone of her voice.

Gregg looked at Angus and everyone else in discomfort, a bad memory playing in his head. Kramer looked ready to say something again but Gregg held up a hand to stop him. "No, you all need to hear what happened. It`d probably answer some questions you all must have".

At that moment, everyone listened in on Gregg`s story as he started, this time staying uninterrupted.

 _ **Flashback:**_

The moment Bea and Gregg woke up on the boss's ship in the detainment room, a sense of panic immediately overtook them.

Though they didn`t remember their last conscious moments to the very tiniest detail, both knew they`d just been on the rooftop of Bea`s apartment, having won a huge fight against an army of hovering drones, when they were ambushed and hit by electric drones.

As the duo both got to their feet, they noticed they were in a strange room they`d never seen before. The walls were a faded light blue color and the area was slightly larger than an average prison cell. A locked heavy metal door close by caught Bea`s attention first, prompting her to nudge Gregg and ask if it was possible he could pick it open.

"Don`t know. Looks a lot heavier than what I usually do…but I`ll give it a shot", Gregg replied before he reached into his pocket. To his dismay, everything that was in it was taken, including his lock picking tool. Bea discovered everything she also had on her was gone.

"Great. Just great. We were defeated in a fight, I couldn`t find my father, Possum Springs is basically in ruins and Mae and Angus are out there alone worrying what happened to us", Bea exclaimed in frustration before she started to approach the door, intending to pry it open one way or another.

"Bea, do you think Mae and Angus made it safely to the Borowskis place?", Gregg asked walking over to help as Bea started her attempt to push the exit open. "Knowing Mae and Angus, I`m pretty sure they did. If they could escape a cultist spying on them in a park, then they could evade a bunch of tin heads with no effort", Bea replied.

Convinced, Gregg nodded and started to push the door himself, thinking he and his friend were making somewhat of an effort.

Out of nowhere, the door suddenly flew open in an insanely fast speed, making the duo fall forward. Bea and Gregg nearly hit the ground, but something caught both of them by the arms before they could.

For a second, the two were relieved by the save. However, they quickly realized that two drones were now holding them tightly in their grips and that they were in a hallway with more of the things, all of them ominously looking their direction.

The alligator and fox let out a scream and struggled to get away, but both their arms were tightly held behind their backs at this point. Gregg tried to kick any nearby foe he could while Bea bit into the drone holding her, though that effort hurt her teeth.

Out of nowhere, a loud voice ordered them to stop. Quickly, the duo looked up and saw what looked like a faint silhouette of a thin man. He appeared to be talking to someone via. an earphone while glancing in their direction. "Good news boss. The two recruits are fully awake…Of course. They`ll be there before you know it".

"Hey, who are you and where are you taking us?", Bea demanded before she and Gregg started to get dragged forward. The thin man didn`t give an answer and instead walked ahead, being just far enough away to stay out of a clear view.

After a full minute of dragging their captives down the dark hallway, the drones took Bea and Gregg into a larger room that made the duo apprehensive just from the atmosphere alone.

They saw in the center of the area a table with tight metal restraints, often seen in a stereotypical mad scientist's lab, and a metal cart next to it with a pair of metal collars and headbands.

Right away, Gregg and Bea knew the things served a more sinister purpose then they appeared and started to struggle again. However, both drones quickly pinned them on the ground, hard enough to leave them dazed momentarily.

As the duo tried to get their full senses to return, they suddenly heard two sets of footsteps approach each other, followed by a conversation.

"Here they are. All ready to go sir", "Good good good Mal. Let's see, which one should we apply Project Collar to first? Tough choice. Really tough choice here", the new voice said, approaching the fox and alligator to study them.

Bea and Gregg both attempted to get a clear look at the second person, but the drones held their heads to the floor, making sure they wouldn`t move a muscle and cause trouble with their leader in their presence while also limiting their line of sight.

 **If Bea was freed later on:**

Without warning, the second person suddenly reached a decision. "Put the fox on the table and strap him down tight. He seems like the right one to go first".

As Gregg got lifted up and started to panic, insisting that he didn`t need to try out whatever was in store for him, Bea tried her best to break free of the drones grip again while shouting for her friend. "Gregg! No! Let him go you monsters!", "Ooh, look at that boss. This one thinks she`s a fighter. Let her up so she can have a front row view. It`d be nice to let her know what she`s in store for after we finish with Gregg here", Mal taunted.

At the bosses order, the drone lifted Bea to her feet but still kept its grip on her arms. As Bea continued struggling, she saw Gregg get slammed onto the table by the other drone. Before Gregg could even get up, the restraints then clamped shut around his arms, legs, neck and even his tail, rendering him stuck in place.

Mal walked away from the alligator to retrieve one of the headbands (keeping Bea from seeing his face) while the second person stayed behind her, still keeping out of her view. During the whole time, Gregg tried to get the restraints to break but had no luck.

Glaring at Mal, the fox demanded to be released. "Oh, you will. I just need to make a few changes to you first", Mal replied before inserting the headband on the Greggs head, making sure it was on tight. Watching only in silence, Bea tried to look away but couldn`t as Mal then did something that turned on the headbands inner device.

Right away, Gregg screamed in agony and threw his head back as far as he could, all while acting like he was being electrocuted. Bea became as desperate as she could at this point, kicking the drone holding her, biting it and trying to wiggle her way out of the metallic grip.

"Well, it looks like my project is turning out to be a hit. Just give him a few minutes and…", Mal began before a sudden alarm interrupted him. Looking up at the blaring sirens above her, Bea wondered what they were for when the boss gave the answer out loud.

"Oh no! The prisoner! The sole prisoner we have on the ship is escaping!", "What! How is that possible? I thought we had her in heavily guarded lockup", Mal exclaimed hiding behind the cart in shivering fear as the boss rushed out into the hallway.

The sudden sound of clashing metal and ice drone shots flooded the hallway. "No! No! Stay away from me you…", the boss began to shout, clearly running into the source of chaos. Quickly, the voice became silenced with a loud smack. Then, dashing with the stamina of an athlete while silent as a ninja, a third person entered the room.

This time, Bea managed to get a clear look at the person and was quickly taken aback by how odd said person appeared.

The person appeared to be a female in her teens, had a funny shaped head, old and dirty clothing and a tan skin color amid a swarm of heavy bandages concealing the face.

Reaching behind her back, the mostly masked female pulled out what looked to be makeshift knives (created from old rebar pieces) and flung them at the drone holding Bea. Right away, the alligator escaped her foes grasp when it became damaged from the critical hits. Acting out of self-defense, Bea then spun around and delivered the final blow herself, putting the drone down for good.

Turning to the girl, Bea managed to say a surprised "Thank you", before the duo looked towards Gregg, still twitching in pain on the table as the headband remained activated. Before either female could come five steps closer, Mal suddenly shouted for backup while remaining behind the cart.

Right away the drone that held onto Gregg earlier, along with four other drones from the hallway (two spike covered ones and two electric ones the girl missed destroying on her way over), came over and stood between Bea and her friend.

"Get out of our way!", Bea threatened, though the drones responded by prepared to attack instead. "No use with these devices. First we fight and destroy, then we free your friend. Should be simple", the mystery girl suddenly told Bea in a tone that felt like the snark the alligator frequently used.

For a moment, Bea wanted to ask the girl who she was along with a million other questions. However, as the fight began, Bea made a mental note to ask later at a better time instead and focused all her attention on putting down her foes.

Hopefully she and her new ally had enough time to save Gregg and escape before it was too late.

 **Fight 5-5 (Bea version)**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Bea**

 **-? Girl**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-1 freeze drone**

 **-2 electric drones**

 **-2 spike drones**

After the fight:

Despite the odds being highly against them, Bea was impressed by how she and the mystery girl did in their fight. Together, they managed to deliver critical and spot on attacks without breaking much of a sweat.

One by one the advanced machinery fell into pieces, steadily clearing the way to Gregg. When the last drone was defeated, Bea didn`t miss a beat and ran to the table, trying to undo the restraints on her now unconscious friend.

"I need some help with opening these!", Bea called back to the girl, unaware of her surroundings for a few moments. It was at that critical time that Mal, who was still behind his cover observing everything, saw an opportunity. Emerging from behind the cart, Mal quickly and threw a punch to the back of the distracted gator's head and sent her face slamming into the side of the table.

Bea hit the ground again with her head aching too much to see straight or stand up. She heard the girl shout something and managed to turn over to look in her direction.

As her sight kept shifting between blacking out and coming back into focus, Bea saw Mal angrily approach the girl, who looked ready to fight as much as he did.

It seemed like another intense battle would happened, and would have if a surprise ambush attack from an electric drone in the hallway didn`t get carried out.

The girl was hit in the leg by an electric blast and fell down, allowing Mal to attack her more easily. As Bea`s vision became temporary blackened for a short period of time she heard sounds of shouting, punching and the boss coming back, barking orders in regards to what he`d just been through.

The first thing Bea saw when her vision started coming back was a drone dragging the now unconscious girl away. Helplessly, she reached out in her direction, despite knowing she couldn`t do a thing to aid her in her state.

"Oh, I wouldn`t worry much about her anyway, considering all the trouble she`s caused me for a long time", Mal told Bea vindictively as he reproached the table and picked up one of the collars.

Bea didn`t recall what happened next exactly, but she did remember looking at Gregg in the face as he picked her up, having gotten off the table somehow. Something was off about the fox (not counting the collar he now wore) and before the alligator could figure it out, she was slammed onto the table and restrained next.

A moment after Bea got her full consciousness back, she saw the Boss looking down on her with his ominous and soulless facial mask. Noticing he was also holding the other headband, Bea nervously asked what he was going to do with that, despite knowing some of the answer.

The Boss let out a strange laugh and parroted some of Beas words. After clearing his throat a moment afterward, he asked in a casual tone, "Let me cut to the chase: Have you ever read this furry comic called Extinctioners?", "What`s that got to do with me here?", Bea asked, completely caught off guard by the question as she struggled fruitlessly against the restraints a bit.

Continuing as if the alligator didn`t speak, the boss began to pace around her with his head barely in view. "Extinctioners is this small time comic about superhero animals defending their world from invaders, which happened to be humans. Of course, the humans couldn`t handle that task alone, so they abduct some recruits and "persuade" them to help out. And by persuade, I mean they use some special technology on them".

Mal suddenly approached Bea from behind and took the headband from the boss. Before the alligator could react, she found the device attracted to her forehead in a way that put pressure on it. "Don`t worry. All your problems will soon go away. Just surrender to our cause and you will be greatly awarded soon enough", Mal stated.

Glancing around for a last second escape as Mal reached for the headband to turn it on, Bea spotted Gregg standing nearby watching. "Gregg! Don`t just stand there! I really need…", she began, only to stop when she saw the soulless grey eyes he now had.

Out of nowhere, an excruciating pain hit Bea and made her scream in agony.

It was hard to describe how this pain felt exactly, but amid the physical discomfort the alligator managed to notice something was happening to her mind. All her thoughts and memories seemed to slip away from her, like they were words being erased from a paper.

The memory of her childhood, hanging out with her friends in Possum Springs and near the college, her mother's death and funeral, driving a car for the first time, the run in with the cult, the times she felt happy, the times she felt bitter or pissed off…all those things left her head, leaving nothing behind.

After the process came to a merciful stop, the only thing the alligator (barely knowing her own name) remembered before blacking out again was the collar being placed around her neck, triggering something in her thoughts as it activated…

 _[Skip ahead to the "Present Time" further down]_

 **If Gregg was freed later on:**

Without warning, the second person suddenly reached a decision. "Put the gator on the table and strap her down tight. She seems like the right one to go first".

As Bea got lifted up and started to panic, begging not to be used as part of some unethical mad experiment, Gregg tried his best to break free of the drones grip again while shouting for his friend. "Bea! No! Let her go you monsters!", "Ooh, look at that boss. This one thinks he`s a tough guy. Let him up so he can have a front row view. It`d be nice to let him know what he`s in store for after we finish with Beatrice here", Mal taunted.

At the bosses order, the drone lifted Gregg to his feet but still kept its grip on his arms. As Gregg continued struggling, he saw Bea get slammed onto the table by the other drone. Before Bea could even get up, the restraints then clamped shut around her arms, legs, neck and even her tail, rendering her stuck in place.

Mal walked away from the fox to retrieve one of the headbands (keeping Gregg from seeing his face) while the second person stayed behind him, still keeping out of his view. During the whole time, Bea tried to get the restraints to break but had no luck.

Glaring at Mal, the alligator demanded to be released. "Oh, you will. I just need to make a few changes to you first", Mal replied before inserting the headband on the Beas head, making sure it was on tight. Watching only in silence, Gregg tried to look away but couldn`t as Mal then did something that turned on the headbands inner device.

Right away, Bea screamed in agony and threw her head back as far as she could, all while acting like she was being electrocuted. Gregg became as desperate as he could at this point, kicking the drone holding him, attempting to dive forward and trying to wiggle his way out of the metallic grip.

"Well, it looks like my project is turning out to be a hit. Just give her a few minutes and…", Mal began before a sudden alarm interrupted him. Looking up at the blaring sirens above him, Gregg wondered what they were for when the boss gave the answer out loud.

"Oh no! The prisoner! The sole prisoner we have on this ship is escaping!", "What! How is that possible? I thought we had her heavily guarded", Mal exclaimed hiding behind the cart in shivering fear while the boss rushed out into the hallway.

The sudden sound of clashing metal and ice drone shots flooded the hallway. "No! No! Stay away from me you…", the boss began to shout, clearly running into the source of chaos. Quickly, the voice became silenced with a loud smack. Then, dashing with the stamina of an athlete while silent as a ninja, a third person entered the room.

This time, Gregg managed to get a clear look at the person and was quickly taken aback by how odd said person appeared.

The person appeared to be a female in her teens, had a funny shaped head, old and dirty clothing and a tan skin color amid a swarm of heavy bandages concealing the face.

Reaching behind her back, the mostly masked female pulled out what looked to be makeshift knives (created from old rebar pieces) and flung them at the drone holding Gregg. Right away, the fox escaped his foes grasp when it became damaged from the critical hits. Not able to resist, Gregg then turned back for a second and delivered the final blow himself, putting the drone down for good.

Turning to the girl, Gregg managed to say a surprised "Thanks", before the duo looked towards Bea, still twitching in pain on the table as the headband remained activated. Before the duo could come five steps closer, Mal suddenly shouted for backup while remaining behind the cart.

Right away the drone that held onto Bea earlier, along with four other drones from the hallway (two spike covered ones and two electric ones the girl missed destroying on her way over), came over and stood between Gregg and his friend.

"Back off or die!", Gregg threatened, though the drones responded by prepared to attack instead. "No use with these devices. First we fight and destroy, then we free your friend. Should be simple", the mystery girl suddenly told Gregg in a tone that felt like the snarky attitude Bea frequently used.

For a moment, Gregg wanted to ask the girl who she was along with a million other questions. However, as the fight began, Gregg made a mental note to ask later at a better time instead and focused all his attention on beating the shit out of his foes.

Hopefully he and his new ally had enough time to save Bea and escape before it was too late.

 **Fight 5-5 (Gregg version)**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Gregg**

 **-? Girl**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-1 ice drone**

 **-2 electric drones**

 **-2 spike drones**

After the fight:

Despite the odds being highly against them, Gregg was impressed by how he and the mystery girl did in their fight. Together, they managed to deliver critical and spot on attacks without breaking much of a sweat.

One by one the advanced machinery fell into pieces, steadily clearing the way to Bea. When the last drone was defeated, Gregg didn`t miss a beat and ran to the table, trying to undo the restraints on his now unconscious friend.

"Here, help me open these things!", Gregg called back to the girl, unaware of his surroundings for a few moments. It was at that critical time that Mal, still behind his cover and observing everything, saw an opportunity. Emerging from behind the cart, Mal quickly threw a punch to the back of the distracted fox's head and sent his face slamming into the side of the table.

Gregg hit the ground again with his head now aching too much to see straight or stand up. He heard the girl shout something and turned over to look in her direction.

As his sight kept shifting between blacking out and coming back into focus, Gregg saw Mal angrily approach the girl, who looked ready to fight as much as he did.

It seemed like another intense battle would happened, and would have if a surprise ambush attack from an electric drone in the hallway didn`t get carried out.

The girl was hit in the leg by an electric blast and fell down, allowing Mal to attack her more easily. As Greggs vision became temporary blackened for a short period of time he heard sounds of shouting, punching and the boss coming back, barking orders in regards to what he`d just been through

The first thing Gregg saw when his vision started coming back was a drone dragging the now unconscious girl away. Helplessly, he reached out in her direction, despite knowing he couldn`t do a thing to aid her in his state.

"Oh, I wouldn`t worry much about her anyway, considering all the trouble she`s caused me for a long time", Mal told Gregg vindictively as he reproached the table and picked up one of collars.

Gregg didn`t recall what happened next exactly, but he did remember looking at Bea in the face as she got off the table somehow and picked him up. Something was off about her (not counting the collar she now wore) and before the fox could figure it out, he was slammed onto the table and restrained next.

A moment after Gregg got his full consciousness back, he saw the Boss looking down on him with his ominous and soulless facial mask. Noticing he was also holding the other headband, Gregg nervously asked what was going to happened to him.

The Boss let out a strange laugh and parroted some of Greggs words. After clearing his throat a moment afterward, he asked in a casual tone, "Let me cut to the chase: Have you ever read this furry comic called _Extinctioners_?", "What the eff are you talking about?", Gregg asked, completely caught off guard by the question as he struggled fruitlessly against the restraints a little.

Continuing as if the fox didn`t speak, the boss began to pace around him with his head barely in view. "Extinctioners is this small time comic about superhero animals defending their world from invaders, which happened to be humans. Of course, the humans couldn`t handle that task alone, so they abduct some recruits and "persuade" them to help out. And by persuade, I mean they use some special technology on them".

Mal suddenly approached Gregg from behind and took the headband from the boss. Before the fox could react, he found the device attracted to his forehead in a way that put pressure on it. "Don`t worry. All your problems will soon go away. Just surrender to our cause and you will be greatly awarded soon enough", Mal stated.

Glancing around for a last second escape as Mal reached for the headband to turn it on, Gregg spotted Bea standing nearby watching. "Bea! Help! You can`t let them…", he began, only to stop when he saw the soulless grey eyes she now had.

Out of nowhere, an excruciating pain hit Gregg and made him scream in agony.

It was hard to describe how this pain felt exactly, but amid the physical discomfort the fox managed to notice something was happening to his mind. All his thoughts and memories seemed to slip away from him, like they were words being erased from a paper.

The memory of his childhood, the day he`d met and fell in love with Angus, the sheep farm incident with his uncle, "working" at his job at the Snack Falcon, the run in with the cult, the times he felt happy, the times he felt down or aggressive…all those things left his head, leaving nothing behind.

After the process came to a merciful stop, the only thing the fox (barely knowing his own name) remembered before blacking out again was the collar being placed around his neck, triggering something in his thoughts as it activated…

 _[Flashback ends at this point]_

 _ **Present Time:**_

As _Bea/Gregg_ continued to talk, everyone had a different reaction to what they all heard.

Jerry stared at the talking animal completely stunned. His facial expression was exactly like the time George told the tale of saving a whale's life at Monks, only shock and horror replaced the awe factor behind it.

Next to him, Joy was also shocked by the story and found herself forming a million questions herself. Who was the mystery girl that came in to fight exactly? How did that Mal guy get his hands on mind control technology? Did Earl`s disappearance between the Finji-verse and the Nothing-verse have a connection to all this?

Catalina nervously hugged herself when the story got to the part of the first Possum Spring resident being brainwashed. As if facing those drones and falling through the empty spaces weren't enough nightmare fuel to last a life time.

 _ **Gregg saved**_ _: While Mae stayed back and kept listening with everyone else in her own disbelief and worry, Angus approached Gregg and tried to give him a comforting hug, the story making him wish he was there to help out in some way for the sake of his loved on._

 _For a moment, Gregg stopped talking and looked ready to accept the hug. However, he gestured his boyfriend to wait. It`d be best if he got everything troubling off his mind first. Nodding, Angus stood close by and kept a worried eye on his lover._

 _ **Bea saved**_ _: While Angus stayed back and kept listening with everyone in his own anxiety and feeling of helplessness, Mae approached Bea and patted her on the shoulder. It wasn`t much, but the feline felt she had to offer her sympathy over what her friend went through somehow._

 _For a moment, Bea stopped talking and looked awkwardly at Mae. She normally didn`t like taking pity back home, but the recent events were something that`d never happened to anyone before. Giving a sad smile, Bea gently signaled Mae to step aside and kept talking. Rather than argue, Mae just stood close by and continued to listen._

As George and Elaine stayed silent and just listened to the story (still trying to find an answer to some of the recent events they were a part of), Kramer looked around and noticed that a sandstorm was slowly starting to pick up just as _Bea/Gregg_ reached the conclusion.

"…so you didn`t remember anything after you had the collar put on you?", Catalina found herself asking as _Bea/Gregg_ wrapped their story up.

 _ **Bea:**_ "No…Actually, I think I remember some things, though they flashed by my head pretty quickly. It was all a blur being a conqueror of a dimension", Bea replied, a look of frustration on her face as she tried to recall anything specific.

Seeing the stressed look, Joy reached into her pockets to offer something and was surprised to find one cigarette still on her. She offered it, and the alligator took it. "Thanks. I know this isn`t good for my health, but still…", Bea replied before realizing she didn`t have her lighter on her.

"Damn it. It was in my other clothing. My real clothing in fact", Bea said as she looked at her armor again. The sight of it sickened her, making her take a mental note to change into anything as soon as she found other clothing.

A sudden gust of wind nearly blew the cigarette from the alligator's hand, making everyone fully realize the brewing storm. 

_**Gregg:**_ "Not a clear thing. There were these odd flashes, though they didn`t last long…Gee, you`d think that someone conquering a dimension would recall something", Gregg replied, straining to remember anything else.

Seeing the stressed look on his boyfriend's face made Angus give his lover the hug he`d held off. As Gregg smiled a bit, he suddenly noticed everyone watching and felt a bit embarrassed. Clearing his throat, Gregg had Angus end their personal reunion and tried to shift the topic to something else.

"It`s too bad I also lost my real clothing during that ordeal. Eff, I`d rather be wearing my leather jacket than this clunky thing out here. Least the sand wouldn`t make my attire rust eventually", Gregg said looking at his outfit before some wind and sand bounced off it. He made a mental note to find something else to wear ASAP.

Another gust of wind nearly blew Angus` hat off him, making everyone fully realize the brewing storm.

Walking forward to face everyone, Joy held up the dimension traveler and said, "Don`t worry y`all, I`ve still got our ticket out of here! Me and my older companions know the Finji-verse is still standin, so we can get out of the sand and crash in that world till we figure out what to do next. We just need Angus` help in fixing this and we`ll be good to go".

As everyone looked at the device with some optimism, Angus approached Joy and took his creation back, beginning to survey the amount of damage it had. As he did, Joy returned to everyone to give Angus some space, with Jerry, his friends and _Gregg/Bea_ asking some questions about the device right away.

As Catalina and Mae mostly talked to _Gregg/Bea_ about what Angus crafted (…with Gregg saying that this invention was his boyfriends best thing he crafted yet/…with Bea showing surprise at Angus` technical skills being that good) Joy mainly talked to Jerry and his own friends about the same topic.

"Just wait till you use it. The experience is better than anything you felt in your lives", Joy exclaimed. "Will it be safe?", Elaine asked. "Of course it`s safe dummy. You just need to keep your hands on it all the way…speaking of which, I still need to figure out how to find Earl once we get out of here", Joy answered, suddenly remembering her ex-husband and his disappearance again.

Before anyone could ask Joy who Earl was, she turned to Angus and hollered to him, asking how long things would take to get ready to go. Looking concerned, Angus walked over to the group and flatly said the device was too broken to fix out here.

"Wait, are you sure? I mean, maybe you overlooked something?", Mae said, only for Angus to shake his head no in reply. "The inside is too beat up. I`ll need some drone parts and tools to make this thing be in working condition again. We`re stuck here", he said before handing the device to Catalina.

As the bear rubbed his head in frustration, some panic started to settle in the group. "What do we do now? We can`t just stay out here in this weather", Elaine said, feeling the sandstorm would soon get worse somehow. "Maybe there`s somewhere we can take shelter? Like a cave maybe?", Jerry guessed.

"Good idea Jerry! I say we get moving and find a place to wait out the storm. There could be something close by we didn`t notice", Kramer exclaimed, rubbing his hands together excitedly. "Well, how do we find it in this storm?", Catalina asked, noting she nor anyone else could see that far away. "Simple Senorita. I, Cosmo Kramer, intend to find it!", Kramer boasted before giving out the orders.

"Come on everyone! We`d best move and find shelter, like those guys in the extreme action nature survival movies!", he hollered as he started going in a random direction with everyone right behind him.

As she walked, Joy occasionally passed Kramer in her attempt to take over the party. However, every attempt made Kramer do the same thing in return, causing hostility to build up just enough to be on the verge of a fight.

As he followed Kramer and Joy, George nervously began to blabber about not wanting to die out here. "…I mean, the chances of us surviving are very low and all. We don`t even have any food out here, or water for that matter. And I thought being brainwashed and helping cause our world downfall was bad enough. I mean, I won`t have to do anymore taxes, so that`s one plus to all this now that I think about it…", he exclaimed a minute into his panic.

Elaine, getting fed up the most by this rambling, elbowed George and curtly said, "Yes George, we know the chances aren`t that good and that Kramer is leading the pack, somewhat. But we have to keep our sanity in check. Plus, things could be even worse if you don`t zip it and focus on moving ahead".

"Okay! I`m calm now", George insisted after taking a deep breath and spitting out some sand awkwardly. "You sure? Good. Last thing I wanna picture is the final four members of our world perishing. Maybe, Kramer (or Joy for that matter. I can`t tell who`s leading us with all that shoving) will get lucky and find just the place", Elaine responded, leaning ahead a bit to watch her friend and Joy partake in a shoving contest as they moved forward.

After a few more moments of thought, George suddenly said, "If you, me, Jerry and Kramer are the only people left from our world, does this mean that Kramer is President if he leads us in line?" Elaine responded by elbowing George harder, making him officially shut up and walk this time.

Upon seeing this, Catalina looked at Jerry and admitted that she was already starting to like his friend. After all, she managed to make the other guy stop being a pest to her expense. "That`s nothing. Wait till we somehow get good news out here", Jerry replied, wondering if he`d get to see Elaine push anyone over in glee ever again (along with doing everything else he loved in his world and seeing the people he cared about again; a thought his other three friends also had on their minds).

As the group persevered through the increasingly strengthening winds,

 **Bea saved:** …Angus brought up the rear, still looking distraught and concerned. Mae slowed down to walk by him and said, "We`ll get Gregg back next. Just hang in there for him and we`ll find a way to save him. Okay?", "Yes…I`m sure we will", Angus replied, hoping Mae would be right. Bea suddenly slowed down to walk by her friends as well, giving a similar look of support to Angus.

 **Gregg saved: …** Mae brought up the rear, still looking worried and helpless. Angus slowed down to walk by her and said, "We`ll get Bea back too. Once we find out where we are and everything, we`ll form a plan to save her somehow. Okay?", "I guess. It`s not like it`s impossible", Mae replied, hoping that Angus would be right. Gregg suddenly slowed down to walk by his friends as well, giving a similar look of support to Mae.

[ _At this point, the camera gives an overhead shot of the group walking through the sandstorm. It then dashes ahead twenty miles away, showing they are heading for the mystery building._ ]

 **End of Seinfeld (Arc 5)**

 **Everyone`s status:**

-Hyacinth, Onslow, Rose, Emmet, Daisy, Crabman, Randy, Blaire (in the unknown mystery world at building)

-Vianna, Velvet, Thomas, James, Devan [NPC], Richard, Liz (status unknown after electric blast destroyed "Deer Me" world)

-Joy, Catalina, Mae, Angus, Jerry, George, Kramer, Elaine (in the unknown mystery world, 20 miles from building)

-Bea (either with Seinfeld/NITW/My Name is Earl group OR brainwashed as the new Alpha for the big bad)

\- Gregg (either with Seinfeld/NITW/My Name is Earl group OR brainwashed as the new Alpha for the big bad)

-Earl (unknown)

-Daddy (unknown)


	42. Intermission 4

Mal watched as the boss paced back and forth on the hull of the ship, clearly looking angry (despite the fact his face was still covered up). He`d been like this since his remaining drone commander had returned, officially confirming that its main co-ally had been captured by a group of beings that stemmed from other destroyed worlds. That meant that the taken co-commander was more than likely deactivated at this point.

"Seriously, can you stop walking back and forth like that? It`s starting to annoy me", Mal finally said aloud after a minute passed, the sound of the semi stomping footsteps on the metal ground making his ears feel like they were throbbing slightly.

This prompted the boss to stop and look in Mals direction. "What did you say to me?! Stop trying to think about what we`re going to do with only one drone commander left?! That we only had enough equipment to use on two beings in Project Collar, meaning we can`t find a quick replacement?", he aggressively asked, getting in Mals face.

"Whoa there! Settle down. When you think about it, one drone commander is all we really need. After all, the original Beta Destroyer had lasted on its own longer than we expected, which means this living being is bound to hold out even more", Mal said as he backed away.

The boss paused and pondered Mals point for a moment before saying, "The original Beta is long gone at this point (good riddance to it). Even if this one lasts longer than its expected destruction and death, how do I know I`m still making progress on my goal till then?"

"The amount of worlds our new ally took over from its new mind functions alone has reached ten. As we speak, three more worlds are just about to be erased", Mal answered, glancing over to the remaining drone field leader as _he/she_ stood quietly close by.

Indeed, as the still brainwashed _Gregg/Bea_ stayed in place and seemingly watched the argument like a bystander, the headband had _his/her_ subconscious lead various attacks that resulted in several dimension eraser bombs go off.

As several explosions were visible on the Earth's surface, enveloping the world over and over in an almost rhythmic pattern, the boss calmed down enough and said, "Okay, okay. We`re still having our work done in conquering every single dimension on the planet. Good. Very good. But I don`t want the commander staying in place on the ship too long. I need it out on the battlefront like a real army leader, helping its metallic subjects freeze anyone it can find. How do I know we won`t lose this one like the other?"

"Don`t worry, I`m sure our hold over this animal's mind will get stronger. The dream world function from the headband is set to kick in any minute now, meaning it`ll be near impossible for this thing to leave our cause", Mal gloated, watching the headband and collar as it continued to function.

"Okay then. Once that function kicks in, send the ( **if Gregg is still brainwashed:** …new Alpha out to the nearest unconquered dimension". **/if Bea is still brainwashed:** …Alpha out to the nearest unconquered dimension".) As for me, I`m in the mood for some pinot gris. Can`t believe I went this long without a drink, especially considering all the stress I went through with our prisoner escaping. By the way, is she..?", the boss asked, pausing a moment after he started to leave.

"Don`t worry. That loser won`t be conscious for weeks, if we`re lucky", Mal replied with a smug grin. "Good. Last thing we need is a real villain running around. Oh, just a reminder for another topic, if there are any beings from other dimensions still around, make sure you let me know and have the nearby drones get them at all costs. That table and everything still being out there…", the Boss said, with some actual worry about the last part.

"Yeah, I made a mistake letting those other four in front of that boring looking café go, but you don`t have to be mad. I`m sure this slight error will be patched over really soon, considering they are going to end up on a world we have our sights on next sooner or later, that is if they weren't already frozen", Mal replied, hoping to wave away his slip up of cutting a loose end quickly.

Without another word, the boss left for his own room. Mal let out a sigh of relief and turned his attention back to _Gregg/Bea_. "Thank goodness I didn`t have to listen to a real lecture. I mean, considering who I really am, I`m the one who should be teaching life lessons around here. Of course, you can`t understand me. Then again, it looks like you`re going where the real you belong, so even if you could hear me, you`d rather not listen", he said in a false sincere tone before walking away, biding his time to see the next dimension attack.

 **If Bea is still brainwashed:**

 _As Project Collar continued to work on her mind, the real Beatrice Santello under the devices control was struggled to think about what was going on around her. She could see and feel nothing in the quiet void of blackness she was in, yet felt awake just enough to know something off was happening._

 _The last memories the alligator had when she still contained a free will were a blur, with all the facts being so scrambled that she couldn`t tell fact from fiction. She did know something had been placed around her neck and that (her friend?) Gregg was nearby when it happened, though she didn`t know where it took place._

 _Bea tried her best to work off what she knew in an attempt to figure out the whole story again. But every time she came close, the collar on the outside messed with her thoughts, leaving her trapped in the confused state she was in. For some odd reason, Bea then felt she was being left in that state of thought until something was ready._

 _Without warning (as something in the technology finally kicked in), Bea felt a rush of energy, as if she were being taken physically, mentally and spiritually to another place. A bright flash appeared out of the blackness, swallowing Bea whole so fast that she barely saw it happened. Had the alligator had enough strength, she would have screamed in terror as the light then got brighter all around her…_

Letting out a gasp and hyperventilating momentarily, Bea looked up from the pavement she stood on and urgently noted her surroundings, wondering what dangers lurked nearby.

Right away, she became mystified when she saw she was in the middle of a college campus ground next to a statue of an anthro bird in a tuxedo (apparently the founder of the place). All around were many students either heading to classes or enjoying the nice weather, with some of the faces in the distance looking somewhat familiar.

The atmosphere didn`t feel intimidating, but welcoming, friendly and busy in a productive and reasonable way, unlike her hometown and place of occupation.

As Bea lowered her guard and looked at her attire next, noting in bafflement that she was dressed in brighter colors than her usual goth self (complete with a backpack and a fancy watch), the phone she suddenly realized she had in her pocket rang. Bea quickly pulled out the device and hit answer on the screen, starting a two-way video call while pondering who was trying to contact her.

She suspected it could only be her dad (thanks to the mind control tech wiping a huge chunk of the other townspeople back home from her memories), telling her she was needed at The Ol` Pickaxe again for another demoralizing shift. Instead, another familiar family face appeared onscreen, catching Bea off guard so much she nearly dropped her phone.

Her mother, with a huge smile and a look of pride on her face, was on the other end of the feed alive and well. "Beatrice, I`m glad I was able to reach you. Tell me, how is your first day of college going so far sweetie? Not being too overwhelmed in your new home?", she asked in a happy and motherly loving tone; a voice Bea hadn`t heard in what felt like an eternity.

Right away, Beas memories felt like they were bouncing around as Bea herself tried to wonder why the sight of her mom was making her feel off guard.

Wasn`t there a set of memories she lived through and knew painfully well that contradicted what she was looking at? Her mother being diagnosed with cancer when she was still in High School? The breakdowns her father had as he kept signing check after check, going deeper and deeper into debt while his wife got worse and worse? Seeing her mother in the hospital the day before she died, looking weak and old and in misery? Attending her funeral and burial? All the crying, the helplessness and the solitary she experienced afterwards?

As those memories began to shift to an alternate timeline in Beas head where her mother quickly recovered from her diagnosis, making Bea slowly forget the shock she just felt, her mother continued to talk. "I`m glad you were able to go to the college of your dreams. There was so much competition to face, and yet you managed to stand out with the administration like I knew you would…is something wrong Beatrice? You look a little pale", Mrs. Santello continued before pausing, noting her daughter's expression.

As Bea began to reply, her father suddenly came into the screen and gave his wife a kiss, making Mrs. Santello blush before Mr. Santello acknowledged his daughter with a hello. "Dad? Is that really you?", Bea asked as she noted how he looked.

Mr. Santello looked happier and healthier than Bea thought she remembered. Didn`t he weigh more and have a depressed demeanor, curtesy of a breakdown he had for some reason? This Mr. Santello was thinner, happier and more active than he ever was.

"Of course it is Bea! Who else did you think it was? A ghost?", Mr. Santello replied jokingly.

"Oh, ha ha dad. I was just…talking to mom about some things I`m dealing with", Bea found herself say and believe, her tone wary (though not because it was connected with anything she experienced from Project Collar). Right away, her parents looked concerned, prompting Mr. Santello to speak.

"If this is about Creek, don`t worry. The judge from the trial personally called me and said he won`t be getting out of that correctional facility for over a decade. I`m glad we were able to get rid of him from the family business and far away from you. Wouldn`t be a great way to end with him still employed in that crummy venue before I sold it", "Don`t worry dad. I`m not upset about that. It`s in the past and forgotten, where it belongs", Bea found herself reply, a feeling a true happiness brewing within.

While Bea didn`t show it, something inside her was screaming that this couldn`t be true. No, this was too good to be true! Even though it felt right, it just couldn`t for some reason! Something wasn`t adding up! In fact, she shouldn`t even be here! Something was entirely, completely wrong and she needed to figure it out fast!

Bea suddenly felt her subconscious tell the voice to shut up. What was she doing thinking about all these crazy and depressing fantasies on her first day of college for anyway? She was Beatrice Santello, top college student about to start her bid to get a Majors degree. Both her parents were safe at home remodeling the house she grew up in with the money they earned from the investments and new better paying jobs they had, starting from her dad selling the family business to a corporation. This was the life she strived for and earned, and nobody would even ruin it for her.

For another minute, Bea casually talked to her mom and dad about the classes she quickly realized she was going to attend alongside some friends she conveniently met days ago. As Jackie, a transgender goat she knew from High School, approached the alligator and called to come to class with her Bea said goodbye to her loving and happy family and hung up, but not before promising that she`d talk to them every day and let them know how she was doing.

After Bea put her phone away and followed her friend to the first class, she felt another odd feeling go through her head. It seemed as though the strange thoughts about this place being wrong had curled up and died, leaving behind all the mental pleasantries and tranquilities she desired.

For a second, Bea oddly believed this was a concern. However, she easily brushed it off as she entered the building, convinced it was for the best. After all, why fret over a tragic fantasy when everything in life was already wonderful?

 **If Gregg is still brainwashed:**

 _As Project Collar continued to work on his mind, the real Gregg Lee under the devices control was struggled to think about what was going on around him. He could see and feel nothing in the quiet void of blackness he was in, yet felt awake just enough to know something off was happening._

 _The last memories the fox had when he still contained a free will were a blur, with all the facts being so scrambled that he couldn`t tell fact from fiction. He did know something had been placed around his neck and that (his friend?) Bea was nearby when it happened, though he didn`t know where it took place._

 _Gregg tried his best to work off what he knew in an attempt to figure out the whole story again. But every time he came close, the collar on the outside messed with his thoughts, leaving him trapped in the confused state he was in. For some odd reason, Gregg then felt he was being left in that state of thought until something was ready._

 _Without warning (as something in the technology finally kicked in), Gregg felt a rush of energy, as if he were being taken physically, mentally and spiritually to another place. A bright flash appeared out of the blackness, swallowing Gregg whole so fast that he barely saw it happened. Had the fox had enough strength, he would have screamed in terror as the light then got brighter all around him…_

Letting out a gasp and hyperventilating momentarily, Gregg looked up from the carpeting he stood on and urgently noted his surroundings, wondering what dangers lurked nearby.

To his surprise, he noticed he was in the middle of an apartment, and just not any ordinary one at that. The place was a top floor five-star apartment; one that would belong in a mainstream magazine catalog. And even though Gregg was no expert in determining how valuable something was, he knew right away that the rent was probably five digits monthly.

As he let his guard down, the fox started to take more of his surroundings in and got stunned speechless by each fancy thing he saw.

Behind him was a flat screen TV that nearly took up the wall, with a DVD cabinet right next to it being full of his favorite movies. Off to the side from that and across a fancy carpeting that soothed Greggs feet with each step was a minibar full of the fox's favorite beverages.

As Gregg resisted the urge to drink (feeling he needed to escape somehow), he began to exit what he now knew was a living room. It was then that he spotted something else in the next room that made his jaws drop.

Not far off from the kitchen was a well-crafted, makeshift stage with his guitar and several other fancy guitars lining the wall behind it.

Just like I always dreamed. I wanted this if I ever moved to Bright Harbor…Gregg thought approaching the stage, almost in a trance like state. Something in his subconscious suddenly told him this whole area was off, snapping his attention back to the oddity of his scenario.

After trying and failing again to recall what had happened to him prior (curtesy of Project Collar), Gregg found himself go to the kitchen. As he noted how fancy everything else was too (a hundred paychecks from the Snack Falcon wouldn`t have come close to covering all this), he suddenly got a jump scare when his phone started to ring. Without thinking, he pulled out the device from his pocket and immediately started talking to whoever was on the other end.

"Hello? Who is this?", Gregg quickly asked, trying to keep most of the panic out of his voice. "Hey Gregg! What up!? Your pal Casey here!", an excited voice on the other end said, making Gregg stop what he was doing and nearly faint from the unexpected voice. "Hi…", he managed to squeak, surprised he could even say something.

Ok, was there something wrong here? Why was he surprised to hear the voice of his friend? Wasn`t Casey dead or something from the hands of that cult? It didn`t seem right that he was still around!

For a few moments, the memories of Casey and the circumstances of his demise bounced around Greggs head as he tried to regain his composure. As the fox finally got somewhat of a grip on things, the memories started to shift to an alternate series of events where Casey lived, never becoming a sacrifice to the group of mad men.

"Do you have a strep throat or something there Lee? You sound off", "No. I`m good Casey…just something strange I felt for a moment", Gregg answered, now feeling silly he overreacted. "Dang, that`d have been a real pain; moving into Bright Harbor with a cold or an illness. Not how I`d picture moving to a life out of that shithole you and your boyfriend left", Casey replied.

As Gregg agreed with a laugh, he somehow felt confused again. He was officially living in Bright Harbor, the place he`d always wanted to go to for a long, long time!? When did he leave Possum Springs to move to his dream home? Now that he thought of it, he didn`t remember making a purchase or discussing things with Angus like they agreed they would.

The fox found his feet take him to a huge outdoor balcony next, complete with a big pool and a grand view of the city. As he continued to talk to Casey more and more casually about the move, the details coming to him at the exact moment he brought them up, he relaxed more while taking in the sights.

"Yeah, it was a miracle me and my love bug found that ad for this place. I couldn`t have asked for it at a better time. Of course, you know what that also means for you and the rest of our friends?", Gregg asked, suddenly forgetting everyone (aside from Casey and Angus) in Possum Springs and recalling a bunch of cooler other apartment next door neighbors instead.

As Gregg threw his head back and waved one arm wildly, he and Casey both hollered, "PARTY EVERY NIGHT! WHOOOOO!" Casey then took a deep breath on the other end of the line before saying, "By the way, am I still expected over soon for band practice?", "Of course Casey. You`re a friend of me and Angus. You`re always welcome here", Gregg replied as he looked down to the streets, saying goodbye for the moment and hanging up.

Just as the fox thought there were no more new surprises for him to rediscover, he suddenly saw something that made him kneel over in ecstasy. A Donut Wolf, complete with the neon circular bellied wolf above the entrance, glowed brightly and stood out from all the other venues. All around, people were approaching it, ready to ride the experience of tasty pastries.

No! This is all wrong! You should not be here! Casey should not be alive! You and Angus are still in that old building apartment in Possum Springs, not here! Get out for your own good!, the random thought screamed in Greggs mind again, being so sudden that it took his attention off the heavenly sight.

This time, Gregg did his best to shake off the voice from his entire memory. Why was this set of downer thoughts flooding his head? He didn`t need that, not after all the heck he`d been through to get here!

After managing to finally make the voice shrivel up and die from within, completely giving into his dreams, the fox heard the front door open. "Gregg! It`s me, your one true love Angus!", a voice called. Totally excited, Gregg found himself run back in.

For one split second inside, Gregg actually pondered again if listening to that detracting voice was somehow the right call. And again, the fox brushed it off, ready to start off his new life in luxury with his mate in the place he always wanted to live in.

 **Back in reality:** As _Bea reached her first class in her new field of existence, /Gregg met up with "Angus" and started to enjoy his new home with him,_ the taken over and real world form of _Bea/Gregg_ got _her/his_ order to attack the next dimension, one called the "U.V.-Wombat".

With a sadistic grin, this version of the a _lligator/fox_ made sure their freeze pistol and drone army were ready and teleported off, happy to cause more mayhem and chaos without their real selves stopping them even in the slightest way possible.


	43. Tales from the Mystery World (vol 2)

_**Tales from the mystery world/mystery building**_

 _(Two short stories taking place between Seinfeld and the next story arc)_

 **Shelter & A Stand-up**

It had been ten minutes since the group started walking, and the sand storm had gotten steadily rougher. Nobody could see what was twenty feet ahead of them, resulting in everyone holding hands to make sure they didn`t get separated.

Up front, Joy and Kramer had calmed down and reluctantly led the team together side by side while continuing to scan for anything that would even give the smallest bit of cover. However, as they kept leading, both began to feel their chances of finding something rapidly begin to fall. Their line of sight coupled with the frustration of getting hit in the face with sand time to time really began to wear on them.

Behind them, George began to talk to himself, forgetting about Elaine`s previous warning. "Great. Just great. Out of all the ways I could have died, it had to be in an anti-climactic fashion. I could have went out like an action hero. That`d have made me feel like I was worth something. But no, I couldn`t even get that. Instead, I`ll perish in a dessert hundreds of miles from civilization that may or may not exist".

"Maybe an anticlimactic death will be a mercy. There`d probably be less pain to deal with or something", Mae said, overhearing George. "You should talk. You`re a cat, so you probably have nine lives", George replied, making Mae look confused while _Bea rolled her eyes/Gregg let out a laugh._

 **Bea:** _"You seriously believe that old superstition?", the alligator asked before Mae nodded in agreement. "What, are you jealous because like me, alligators only have one life? Was yours special or something before you attacked and destroyed others under that mind control?", George pressed, stunning Mae and Angus with his insensitive words._

 _Before either could defend Bea, the alligator snarked back, "I can see that your life must be very, very pathetic to sink that low in terms of insults. But then again, a second opinion says that unlike me you`re a quiter, a failure, insecure, desperate and amoral. A grand slam of problems from a true romance to having a career, repeatedly. Am I right about him guys?"_

 _As Bea smirked at Georges stunned expression, both of them saw everyone was looking at their direction and holding a laugh back at the man's expense. For a moment, George struggled to make a successful counter insult and only replied, "Well the jerk store called and they`re out of you!" When he saw Bea laugh at that, not offended even the slightest, George then whined that he was getting upset and childishly stomped forward._

 **Gregg:** _"What`s so funny? You trying to demoralize me or something? Cause let me tell you fox, I already have enough issues as it is!", George replied to Greggs laughter. "Okay, okay. Just trying to comprehend how what you said could be true", Gregg replied, with Mae nodding in agreement._

" _You think I`m pathetic for trying to air out my grievances? That I`m an idiot loser or something? Well, just cause you helped destroy a dimension doesn`t make you a smart big shot!", George retorted, stunning Mae and Angus with his insensitive words._

 _Before either could defend Gregg, the fox let out another more sarcastic laugh and replied, "Well, excuse me Costanza. I didn`t realize that you were just being clever. I mean, you must be smart enough to make seven figures and have ladies clamoring all over you if that's the case. That`s how this genius really is back home, isn`t he guys?"_

 _As Gregg smirked at Georges stunned expression, both of them saw everyone was looking at their direction and holding a laugh back at the man's expense. For a moment, George struggled to make a successful counter insult and only replied, "Well the jerk store called and they`re out of you!" When he saw Gregg laugh at that, not offended even the slightest, George then whined that he was getting upset and childishly stomped forward._

"Hey Cosmo, you see anything?", Jerry called to the front as he blinked out some sand that blew into his eye. "Nothing yet Jerry! I`m still searching! Shouldn`t be too long now!", Kramer called back, turning his head as much as he could.

As he did, Joy saw an opportunity and tried to slip in front of him. However, Kramer whipped his head forward and spotted her in the act. "A-ha! Caught you! You think you can overthrow me as leader of the pack that easily?", "What? I wasn`t doing anything!", Joy insisted, secretly frustrated another attempt failed already.

Elaine, who was right behind the duo, had another look of dread on her face. "Oh brother. This should end well", she sarcastically told Jerry. "To be honest, I`m interested in seeing where things will go this time, considering a conclusion wasn`t reached in round one", Jerry replied, watching the duo start to shove each other again as if he were seeing his favorite movie.

"You really think this is a good time to watch them fight? Out here!?", Catalina exclaimed as she gestured towards the blowing sand all around her. "Yeah. We`ll probably lose each other in all that conflict", Mae added as **Bea: …** _she nervously hugged Bea and Angus./_ **Gregg: …** _Angus hugged Gregg behind her._

Seeing the urgency in everyone made Jerry reluctantly put aside his desire to see a fight. There`d be a brawl some other time, he thought as he tried to get the duos attention (with everyone else just watching, thinking Jerry was the best choice to stop the conflict on his own). However, Joy and Kramer didn`t notice Jerry as they now started shouting at each other instead.

"What makes you think you`re so special enough to be leader? Huh?", Kramer exclaimed as he got in Joys face a bit. "Come on, I know I`ve got leadership skills in my blood. I could detect and take us to a 7-11 if I weren't a bit winded from dashing across a big city. **If Jerry went after Bea:** … _Besides, I basically lead you and that bear all the way to that field if you`re looking for an example."_ **If Jerry went after Gregg:…** _Besides, I was a big help to your friend in terms of going places. And I don`t mean that in an innuendo.",_ Joy retorted before shoving Kramer back a bit.

At this point, Jerry tried to shout to the duo that he had enough of their fighting and that they needed to get serious. Kramer and Joy stopped and looked confused by the mostly casual (if louder than usual) tone Jerry used (along with all the non-Seinfeld associated characters).

"Excuse me, what are you trying to do? Tell a joke?", Joy asked. "Trust me, it`d be best not to bring emotion into Jerry. Saw it happened once with a girlfriend and…(mimicking a sound of a bomb dropping)…it was honestly a disaster", Kramer answered with a wild gesture.

"Ha ha. Very funny. Now listen, we can`t keep going like this. If you guys can`t agree with who deserves to lead the team, they maybe someone else should take over", Jerry said as he got between his friend and Joy.

"But Jerry, I`m your friend. Your buddy. Your guy. With the world gone taking us to shelter is my intended crowning achievement, and I intend to reach that achievement", Kramer replied.

Joy then grabbed Jerry by the shoulders and spun him around to face her. "But I`m hot. I`m sexy. I even got a level of charisma not everyone in Camden had. I deserve to get an achievement that doesn`t involve breaking the law", Joy retorted. As she said this, Mae walked by with nobody noticing her.

Before Kramer could argue back on what Joy said, Angus (who tried to retain his patience the whole time) reached his last nerve. "All right you immature jerks, shut up! I agree with Jerry. Someone besides you two should lead, so take my advice and stand down".

For a second, Kramer and Joy looked at Angus, Jerry and then at Angus again in disbelief. A sharp glare from behind the bears glasses finally got the duo to stand down and leave the front, both hanging their heads low in shame.

 **Bea:** _As she watched the two humans walk past her, Bea could only reply with a flat "Whoa", "What can I say Bea? I had to do it for the good of the group", Angus only replied. "Well, if your discipline can keep anyone from going crazy out here I`d gladly…wait, where`s Mae?", Bea asked before drawing everyone's attention to the fact that the cat wasn`t with the group._

 **Gregg:** _After he watched the two humans walk past him, Gregg gave his boyfriend a pat on the back. "Alright Angus. You really know how to make a statement. Stick it to the man and all that", "What can I say bug? I was doing it for the good of the group", Angus replied with a small blush on his face. "Hey Mae, you think Angus could…Mae? Everyone, where`s Mae?", Gregg asked before everyone noticed the cat wasn`t with the group._

Right away, everyone started to call out for the cat's name, looking as far as they could in every direction through the storm. Just as the panic started to set in, they all heard her voice in an unknown location yell, "Tacos!"

A moment later, Mae came back into view completely excited. "Mae! What were you doing running off? We could`ve lost you!", Angus exclaimed as he and _Bea/Gregg_ approached her. "And why did she say tacos?", Elaine added, not getting a solid answer from any of the humans.

When her friends got to her, Mae nearly began to jump up and down with excitement. "Guess what you guys? I found a cave!", "What?" _"No way"/" You`re bluffing",_ Angus and _Bea/Gregg_ immediately said. "It`s true! There`s this cave facing away from all the wind. We`ll be able to get out of the sand and wait out the storm!", Mae boasted.

Right away, a lot of excitement appeared on everyone's faces. As they moved forward in Mae`s direction Catalina muttered a quick "thank you" prayer in Spanish, George started skipping, Elaine grabbed Jerry by the hand and basically dragged him with her and Joy and Kramer both stumbled several times as they ran, their rivalry off their minds.

 **(About an hour later)**

"Hey Jerry, how`s the weather out there? Storm settle down or anything?", Kramer asked as he watched his friend look outside from the cave entrance.

A few moments passed before Jerry answered in a bitter tone. "Nope. In fact, things are looking even worse compared to the last time I checked. We might be stuck here all night at this rate"

"Dang! You know, I can`t believe I`m saying this: I really am starting to hate the beach with all that blowing sand.", Kramer stated. "Really? You hate the beach that much? Didn`t you try to pitch a colon with the same name or something all those years ago?", Jerry replied. After looking like he was taken aback a bit, Kramer answered, "All right, now that you mention it my opinion of the beach is more of a love-hate ideology. Didn`t know how complex I really was".

As Jerry left Kramer in his own thoughts and moved away from the entrance, he approached George. His other friend was near the center of the cave trying to make a fire with some rocks and old sticks he found. To his frustration, he had no luck.

Jerry attempted to give some advice, but George insisted he knew what he was doing and needed more time. "…Besides, everyone else besides that Catalina lady keeps looking at me. I don`t wanna give the impression that I`m a burden or something like that", George loudly whispered.

"So you`re trying to reinvent yourself in this cave? That your intention?", Jerry asked, trying not to say "What could go wrong?", aloud. "Yes. George Costanza is soon going to be the action ultra-survivalist man of the pack. Just watch", George replied before he accidently slammed some of his fingers against one of his rocks.

As George let out a loud scream and waved his hand frantically, he overheard some giggling and looked up in frustration. Apart from Kramer (who was still leaning against the wall ten feet from the only exit and staring outside) and Catalina (who was trying to sleep on the comfiest spot on the floor she could find), the rest of the group was sitting together talking and occasionally looking in his direction, wondering what the odds were for the inexperienced George Costanza in actually making a fire.

"What are you looking at?!", George demanded, prompting everyone to resume their chatting. "Yep, this almost feels like home. All I need is a couch, a fridge full of food, a bike to hang up on my wall…well, it`s the spirit and thought that counts", Jerry replied as he continued to watch George, thinking there was no other better entertainment for the moment.

Across the cave the three Possum Springs residents, Elaine and Joy glanced briefly again at Jerry and George. "Elaine, is something wrong with that bald guy? He seems rather stressed?", Mae asked as she witnessed George give crazy nonverbal gestures from another fail.

"I don`t know. With George you can never tell, though he does make me feel happy for the little things that go right in my life when I see all the major things go wrong in his", Elaine replied, still feeling somewhat thrilled she was speaking to a talking animal.

As Angus began to talk to Mae and _Bea/Gregg_ about what they would do to find parts to fix his dimension teleporter, Elaine began to talk solely to Joy.

"So, you really know these animals quite well? I saw you were all together the whole time in my world", "I wouldn`t consider them best friends at this point. Mae and Angus, I knew them for less than a day already. And don`t get me started on… _Bea, cause I think your weird friend over there got to know her better under her mind control./…Gregg, cause I think you and the fox bonded more under that mind control._ Still, they make great ally's and gossip buddies at a time like this, especially since we have similar goals", Joy replied.

Angus, having overheard what Joy said a bit, looked over in her direction and gave a mutual smile.

"So…any interesting things happened in your life? Are you a famous person on your dimension?", Elaine asked after a moment, seeing Jerry apparently pondering something.

"Oh, heck yeah. I was on a TV show competition this one time and I blew it out of the water. Got a lot of new places to live in, had a lot of people catering to my whim and all that fancy crap", Joy replied, stretching the truth a bit on some real events.

"Really? You sound like you`re lying", "No I`m not. I really am a big name in my hometown. Besides, you don`t have the best judgement of character. You mentioned something about me and my ally`s being henchmen to the villains when you first met us", Joy retorted, startling Elaine with her answer.

"Hey, I have a good judgment of character", "Oh yeah? Tell me this you big shot, if you accidently woke up Catalina from that beauty nap of hers, how do you think she`d react? Calm or aggressive? I already know the answer to that", Joy asked, glancing towards her sleeping party member. "She looks like a forgiving and caring type", Elaine answered, looking more irritated with Joy by the second. "Oh yeah, I dare you to wake her up. If someone who says she ran a mainstream catalog once could handle the pressure in that business, surely it`d be no sweat proving this point", Joy replied.

Apparently hearing it from some drunk guys when the Crab Shack was still in Camden, Joy was informed Catalina had a nasty temper if she was rudely awaken. Sometimes it would allegedly result in a punch to the face. Still being sore with Kramer, Joy feel nothing would make her happier now than seeing her on/off again rival stick it to his friend for her.

Next to Elaine, the Possum Springs residents looked at the two humans and nearly intervened. However, Elaine held up a hand to them and insisted she`d do it. "All I need is the right thing to immediately tell your friend when she wakes up…give me a moment to think about it", Elaine replied before walking off towards Kramer, feeling there could be some idea he had that would help.

 **Bea:** _As she resumed watching George try and fail to start his fire, Bea couldn`t help but let out a small chuckle. "I`ll give him this, he has a sense of humor that reminds me of Mae`s", "Aww, thanks Bea…wait, did you mean that as a compliment?", Mae replied. "Of course I did. Your sense of humor is better, especially when I note how random and off the wall that George can get sometimes", Bea answered as she gave her friend a pat on the back. Mae beamed in the praise while Angus kept a sad look on his face, wishing he had Gregg to comment._

 **Gregg:** _As he resumed watching George try and fail to start his fire, Gregg leaned over and elbowed Mae. "Too bad that George guy won`t start a fire and freeze to death", he said, getting Mae excited at what he was implying. "Too bad he didn`t cause enough smoke to die from inhalation", she quipped. "Too bad he didn`t light himself on fire and burn to a crisp", "Too bad he didn`t ignite a hidden pocket of flammable gas and blow us all to hell", Mae topped off, sharing a laugh and high five with the fox. Angus just let out a chuckle, enjoying their improv a bit amid his own worries about Bea._

Jerry suddenly stood up and walked towards the center of the cave. "Attention, attention everyone", he said, getting all eyes on him. Elaine (who was talking with Kramer) stopped her conversation while Catalina continued to snore, with Joys eagerness to ruin her peace still in the back of her mind.

When he was sure everyone was listening, Jerry continued. "Due to the level of stress we are all having, I decided to try and raise everyone`s morale by doing an improvised stand-up performance. Let`s see…ah, this`ll do", he said before picking up a rock that looked slightly like a microphone.

 **Bea:** _"Seriously, he`s doing a stand-up show here? Is that really what we need right now? George is one thing, but this feels like a lot more", Bea asked in disbelief. "Hey, I`m eager to see a performance. The closest thing to a real stand-up viewing I ever saw was on the TV", Mae replied._

 **Gregg:** _"Wow, a stand-up in this random cave? Talk about surreal", Gregg said. "I wonder if this guy is as good as the ones I saw on TV with my dad before. Back when I was staying at home after the…incident", Mae said, catching herself from saying too much at the last part._

Right away, Jerry started his act while pretending he was in the familiar comforts of his usual comedy club.

 _ **Jerry**_ _:_ " _The thing I`m seeing a lot these days are crossovers. I mean, what`s the deal with them? We got one where Superman is meeting Jerry Lewis, Archie meeting the Punisher, Spiderman meeting Ren & Stimpy, yada, yada, yada. (Audience laughter)_. _Now, the intent of the crossover in to bring two or more characters or worlds together, hoping to create this big and ultimate event. Granted, with all the copyrights and the lawyers present, I think that even for the worst crossover seeing the light of day in any media is an epic event in of itself (Audience laughter). In a form of irony, all of us being here in this cave could be a bizarre crossover itself, and the funny thing is that we didn`t have to write or come up with any ideas (Audience laughter). You got a cat who would be arrested for eating a mouse back in her hometown, a wild blonde lady from an America I can`t go to and three of my friends who, quite honestly, are the icing on the cake in this mashup with their zany antics (Audience laughter). I can tell that we`d be in for a whole set of whacky adventures and random hijinks if we ever did share a universe or sitcom. Not that I`d ever picture myself being in a sitcom mind you. (Audience laughter)._

After the performance, Kramer would state that he`d heard a strange catchy theme playing in the background (though considering this was Kramer talking, who knew how valid his claims were).

Meanwhile, halfway into the routine Elaine approached Catalina and gently nudged her awake. "What is it?", she asked grumpily, starting to feel a bit of aggressiveness within. Before Elaine could give out a clever reply she came up with, Catalina heard some funny lines from Jerry and found herself laughing alongside everyone else, quickly caught up in the performers charm and good spirits.

A look of frustration appeared on Joys face upon seeing Catalina laugh with Elaine. She found herself listening in on the rest of the act in pouty silence. Her clever little revenge for Kramer and this annoying lady would have to wait.

Settle down Joy. You`ll teach that goofy man a thing or two about taking leadership from me. And I`ll make sure to bring your friend down a peg or two along the way, she darkly thought.

As Jerry continued his routine and everyone felt some of the stress and conflict leave them, they all knew that this moment would soon come to an end and that they`d have to venture out into the unknown, looking for help them may or may not find. After all, with no food or water, staying here for a while would be out of the question.

 _Bea/Gregg_ almost pointed this out to _her/his_ friends, but Mae signaled for _her/him_ to be quiet. "Let's just enjoy something good while it lasts, like last time. Because I really don`t want to know what`s beyond the storm out there", she only said, keeping the worries temporarily at bay.

 _(At this point, an overhead shot of the cave is shown with Jerry walking back and forth telling jokes while everyone is laughing. A fainter and somber tone of the Seinfeld theme ends the short story as the scene fades to black)._

[The loading scene in between the short stories shows Vianna, Thomas, Velvet, James, Devan, Richard and Liz falling in between dimensions, screaming and struggling to grab anything in the empty void]

 **Strange Minds Think Alike**

The new location of the Crab Shack was as quiet as the nearly empty world it now resided in. That all changed when Rose shoved Blaire into a nearby table in a fit of rage, sending her to the ground with a loud thump.

As the rabbit got up in a completely aggressive state, Rose kept her distance while yelling, "How dare you speak ill of me when I`m in mourning hare! All I wanted was a man! Someone to think about in my fantasies! Someone I`d imagine holding me and telling me the most romantic of lines, all the problems from my old world no longer a bother!"

As an equally enraged Randy approached Blaire from behind, the rabbit retorted, "Knock it off Rose! Listen to yourself and tell me you are not being delusional. We`re all alone out here, and if there are any other attractive men from your world who somehow got to this building, the first thing they`d do is think of survival tactics. They wouldn`t fall on their knees begging to be with you", "Yeah! The lady bunny is right! I can`t stand even one second of dopey love talk! Makes me feel like I got cooties!", Randy boasted, earning a look of ire from both females (though Blaire's was only mild, as she felt being called a lady bunny by Randy was nothing to fuss about in the long run).

Out of nowhere, Hyacinth appeared behind her sister. "Rose, what ever are you fussing about at a time like this?", she asked. "It`s that…that…she-devil Hyacinth! She said there are no good men left in the world who would want me in my lonely state!", "Your twisting my words around! I didn`t say that. What I said was…", Blaire began, putting a bit of emphasis on most of her words.

However, as Emmet randomly appeared behind the rabbit and Daisy came up to her sisters, Randy interrupted Blaire by declaring, "Zip it! This bunny is right! You deserve nobody because you`re a nutcase like your sister with the bad voice named after a flower and the other sister who I barely know who is also named after a flower". Before she could stop herself, Blaire realized she was nodding along, agreeing fully with the words said.

As Rose and Hyacinth looked appalled and angered by Randy's words, Daisy flexed her arms and declared, "I don`t know what this is all about exactly, but something tells me I`m justified to throw a few punches all around", "If that`s how you feel, I`d be happy to return the favor to you. To all of you", Emmet replied as he and his own group got ready for the inevitable brawl.

Without wasting a second, both teams charged at one another, ready to duke it out until no foe was standing.

 **Fight 5-bonus**

 _ **Fighters to select**_ **:**

 **-Hyacinth**

 **-Daisy**

 **-Rose**

 **(Side A)**

 **-Blaire**

 **-Emmet**

 **-Randy**

 **(Side B)**

 _ **If Side A won:**_ The three sisters looked down on their fallen foes with different reactions. Hyacinth stared at the defeated trio, then looked at her fists in bewilderment and pulled out a handkerchief.

As she began to clean them and muttered something about how low she felt in resolving to "street hoodlum actions", Daisy tried to come up with a witty victory catchphrase. However, she ended up drawing a blank on that one and resorted to say the first thing that came to her mind. "Olly olly oxenfree!", "What?", Hyacinth replied, looking caught off guard.

Next to the two sisters, Rose began to cheer, jumping up and down in victory. "Yes! We showed them, did we?!", "Rose, mind your tone indoors. No need to be as loud as that vile storm out there", "Oh, come on Hyacinth. Live a little. After all, we practically slaughtered that rabbit!", Rose retorted.

"Seriously, I know bragging rights are a part of any training or sport, but do you really need to go that far in terms of taunting?", Blaire suddenly asked as she and her two teammates got up, completely unharmed somehow. None of the three victors were caught off by this sight either.

 _ **If Side B won:**_ The winning trio looked down on their fallen foes with different reactions. Randy let out a wild cheer and did a random victory dance. He then began to chant that he won over and over again.

As Blaire told him to settle down, with a look of relief on her face, she turned to Emmet and asked how he was holding up after all that conflict. "I`m still standing, arn`t I? That`s an outcome I`m happy to hear", he replied as he glanced solely at Hyacinth.

"We did it guys! We did it…do we win something? If this were a video game I think we`d have gotten a prize", Randy asked as he finally calmed down enough. "This isn`t a video game Randy, though I will admit that showing Rose who`s tougher between me and her was a prize in of itself", Blaire replied smugly.

"All right now, no need to overdo it with the celebrations. You won. You beat me and my sisters fair and square. Now can someone help me up?", Rose suddenly asked as her two sisters got up on her own while she just sat up, completely unharmed. As Emmet walked over and got Rose back to her feet, neither he nor his two co-victors looked caught off by the sight either.

 _This next scene plays out regardless of who won:_ Onslow, who was sitting in a nearby chair and overlooking everything like a director at a shoot, gave a few claps and said, "Nice work all of you. Both teams showed a lot of effort this time".

"Onslow, can you remind me why we`re practicing fighting against each other? I know this helps take our mind off some things, but still…", Blaire began as she rubbed one of her wrists. Around her, the other five drifted apart a bit to talk to one another or let their mild pain ebb away in solitary, with the presence of the anthro rabbit still mildly distancing to some of them.

"Simple Blaire. We`re all trying to keep our fighting skills up in case we get attacked again. Considering how lucky we got taking down that last drone, I say it`s for the benefit of us all", Onslow stated as he slowly sat up.

"Strange coming from you Onslow. You only participated in one fight while the rest of us improvised whacky scenarios and did five", Daisy commented, approaching her man curiously. "Well, I`m a watcher and learner type of person. Plus, the combat reminded me of me favorite shows on the telley", Onslow casually replied, shrugging his shoulders as if it were nothing.

"We sure came up with some creative reasons to fight. That one about me blowing out the sun to freeze hell over literally was a good one", Randy commented to Rose and Hyacinth, letting out a bit of a laugh.

"Preferably, I liked the one where we all got in the scuffle because there was only one fat-free, no crumbles to clean up biscuit left to eat on a nearby well-polished and organized table. Talking about it like the mature adults we are would have been wiser. Though I will say that some of your insults were…creative Randy. Me with a bad voice? Ridiculous!", Hyacinth replied, not being able to resist letting out some glee.

Everyone looked at Hyacinth for a moment and decided not to continue that discussion. She already seemed slightly on edge after Blaire told her she didn`t want tea with her earlier, with an occasional look of shock and confusion in her eyes that seemed to give an unpredictable expression. After all, no one had turned down tea like that in…ever.

Out of nowhere, the sudden sound of a piece of metal dropping on the floor got everyone's attention. Looking towards the corner of the room, the group noticed Crabman was all by himself fiddling with the pieces he took from the original Beta Destroyer.

"Hey Crabman, you wanna practice another fight with me? I got another good idea for an improv moment that involves stolen nuclear weapons, a lot of heavy powered machine guns and pink frosting", Randy excitedly asked as he approached his friend.

Sighing from exhaustion, Crabman picked up the dropped piece of metal as he said, "Sorry Randy. Maybe some other time. Right now I`m working on something pretty important", "Something important? This outta be good", Rose said as she rushed over, her curiosity fully aroused.

After getting Rose to take a few steps back and noting that the center of attention was still on him, Crabman said, "Well, since I`ve probably got you all interested, I guess I`ll catch you guys up to speed as to what I`m doing. Honestly, it`ll blow your minds".

"Blow our minds? Not to make your claims sound meaningless, but after all we went through that sounds like a hard thing to achieve", Daisy replied, thinking of how fast paced and frantic her own arrival to this dimension was.

"Trust me, it really will amaze you. What I`m building is a device that involves interdimensional travel", Crabman answered, gesturing to the incomplete makeshift device in front of him. Right away, everyone became quiet as they stepped closer to note the device.

Like Angus` own machine, the dimension traveling device in front of Crabman looked like a PS4 that glowed and had different outlets and textures. The sight left everyone speechless and they tried to process what they were actually seeing.

Finding his voice first, Emmet managed to ask, "How do you know this is a dimension traveling device? I mean, nobody in my world ever saw one like this and judging by your friends reaction, I could guess it`s the same for him too", before gesturing towards Randy with his open mouth expression.

"Simple. After I looked over the components of that destroyed drone and recognized some familiar computing hardware…Actually, I can`t tell you exactly how I know", Crabman began before catching himself. "And why is that?", Emmet asked, caught off guard by the answer. "Let's just say that knowing some top secret stuff would force me to do some dark things in ensuring you`d keep quiet forever", Crabman answered, making everyone but Randy look at each other in surprise.

"Well, can you tell us something that`s…safe to reveal?", Blaire awkwardly asked, trying to ponder who Crabman actually was more than ever. "Sure. I can tell you all that if I manage to complete the repairs, we might be able to travel to another world. This thing will be our own private transport", Crabman said patting the surface of the device.

As Crabman continued to do the repairs, Onslow walked over to take a closer look (trying to spot a way to start a discussion on the concepts of dimension traveling he once read) while Randy began to explain some things to Blaire, Daisy and Emmet, all of whom were still dealing with what Crabman said.

"…so he works in the government as an agent? That explains how he fought so well in the hallway earlier", Emmet said in wonder. "Actually, I don`t think he works for one anymore. He has all this cool gear I`ve seen him use. Unfortunately, he doesn`t have an exploding pen. That would have been awesome", Randy said with a childish grin on his face.

"It almost feels like we have our own James Bond here with us. You know, when we were younger I always considered Onslow to be my very own special agent", Daisy said as she watched her husband and Crabman start their own chat. "Seriously Daisy, you`re starting to go into T.M.I here. I`m not bragging about James and what we do alone…", Blaire said before a look of loneliness appeared momentarily.

Emmet, almost hesitating for a moment, gave Blaire a pat on the back before the sound of loud gossiping made him wince. Turning, he saw that Rose was excitedly talking with Hyacinth about what having a teleporter could mean for them.

"We`d be able to explore the universe like true adventurers! Think about it, all the people we could meet, all the new foods we could sample…The possibilities are endless. I might even find the perfect man out there", Rose exclaimed, her eyes sparkling with glee.

"That`s… nice Rose. Preferable, a search for everyone in our group still missing would be the first thing in order. Maybe we could even find our sister Violet. You know, the one with the sauna, Mercedes and room for a pony!", Hyacinth replied, making sure the members not from her world heard the last part.

"Wow, you have someone in the family with a sauna. That`s pretty cool", Randy exclaimed to Daisy. "Does a pony, say one like Velvet, live there?", Blaire also asked Daisy, equally confused.

Looking a bit frustrated with all the background noise amid his own talk with Onslow, Crabman loudly whistled for everyone to be quiet. "Look, if you all want to gossip about my machine and all the possibilities it has to offer when I finish it, then it`s okay with me. But I`d appreciate it if you all do it in the hallway or somewhere else. I need to work in peace here".

After a brief exchange of glances, everyone but Crabman and Onslow headed out into the hallway. As he watched his wife talk to her sisters on the way out, Onslow couldn`t help but comment, "Line of work always like this?", "Sometimes. Though I`m better at handling it back home. If there is a home for me to go back to", Crabman replied.

"We will all get back home. I just know we will…Though I admit I`m kind of in doubt about that since it got destroyed. Saw it with me own two eyes", Onslow said, sharing the moment of ambiguity.

Before Crabman could say another word, Onslow left the room to dwell on some thoughts. He found himself brush by the rest of the group outside and returned to the table room. Noticing his worry, Emmet, Daisy and Blaire both followed while Randy, Rose and Hyacinth continued their talk (mainly about the teleporter and what they could do if it were fixed). Upon seeing the trio follow him to the table room, Onslow gestured for them to follow him, feeling a few partners would help in another round of research.

After he watched him go, Crabman ended up muttering to himself, "Nice to know someone besides me has uncertainty as to what`s to come. Though I do wonder who could get access to this kind of technology. Stuff was pretty well guarded in my world", before he continued to try and fix to dimension teleporter, knowing it was the only ticket for long term survival here.


	44. Digger- Part 1

**(R.I.P Clive Swift - Actor who portrayed Richard Bucket in Keeping up Appearances. Loved your work whenever I watched it on PBS. Great and talented guy. You will be missed greatly.)**

 **February 9, 1936 – February 1, 2019**

 _Chapter 6: Digging Oneself Deeper_

 _Digger_

As she walked through the thick forest, an anthro wombat known as Digger-of-Unnecessarily-Convoluted-Tunnels, or just Digger for short, found the fog in her head cloud her sense of direction. Taking a moment to adjust the backpack and pick-axe strapped to her back (while muttering "Blood and shale" to herself), she felt multiple thoughts flow in and out of her mind as she looked around, trying to grasp anything that wasn`t unknown to her.

Why did this place feel familiar? Had she walked down this path before, a few years ago? There had been a forest like this with a village nearby that she previously visited, one that had a temple for the Hindu God Ganesh. She`d spoken to him…what was discussed between them again? And there was a group she encountered…befriended a member…they had a name that started with a V…

Tripping over a branch, the wombat hit the ground with a thud and let out a moan of discomfort. "Why did things get worse for me? First Ed, now all this. I wish I`d never gotten on that cart", she said to nobody, clutching a necklace that she was wearing for security.

[ _scene transitions to another part of the forest nearby_ ]

As soon as he recovered from his second trip of dimension travel and landing, Earl Hickey got up and brushed some leaves out of his hair. Once he was sure all his senses and body parts were intact, he immediately shouted for all the people and animals he`d been with back in Angus` apartment in Possum Springs.

"Joy!? Catalina!? Mae! Angus! Any of you here!? Hello?" When nobody replied, Earl muttered a profanity under his breath and slowly began to walk around, trying to get a sense of direction as to where he was and if someone else was nearby.

"This feels familiar…I`m in a forest with no idea of how far civilization is…alone this time…Is this the Nothing-verse? Doesn`t seem to be much of anything here. Maybe I traveled back to where I ended up the first time?", Earl told himself as he pulled out his list, feeling that reading something would at least calm his nerves.

Out of nowhere at the halfway point of his reading, Earl heard someone speak and give him a jump scare. "Hello", said the voice, with the speaker unseen in all directions.

[ _The scene transitions back to Digger as she slowly sits up. While she rubs a sore spot on her arm, she looks out into the distance, thinking of her recent past to get some things cleared. Narration from her begins as the colored world drifts to a black and white comic flashback (similar to the style of the webcomic source material)_ ]

 **Digger narrating:** "I`m sure that the question a lot of folks are asking is who I am. My name, or more accurately the shorter version of it, is Digger. Since I was young, I`ve been like any other wombat: I studied and majored in geology and architecture, got to use a pickaxe to perfection and did a lot of tunneling. And it should be noted that the last thing is the reason I`m not home among my kind. When I started tunneling a few years back, I ended up getting lost…really lost."

 **Flashback shown:** _The comic style shows Digger doing something different each time it flashes to the next image. The wombat is shown sitting down reading an archeology book, holding a pickaxe with determination and mining amid silhouettes of a few other wombats in that order. Following this, a scene from the webcomic is shown involving Digger burrowing upwards into a room that has the giant statue of Ganesh._

 **Digger narrating:** "I ended up stuck in the new land when my way home was blocked. It was there that I met some unfriendly and potentially dangerous foes".

 **Flashback shown:** _The comic flashback shows several dangerous encounters Digger has. One is a male hyena that tries to kill her while she sleeps in his cave, slowly advancing on her. The next is a female hyena trying to skewer Digger with her spear in the wombats makeshift burrowed shelter, followed by a strange and ominous shadow creature looking at Digger after the two meet for the first time. The last panel shows a man with his mouth covered with a cloth, wearing all black and a shaved head. He`s leaning against a statue while giving Digger a hostile and distrusting glare._

 **Digger narrating:** "However, a lot of the hostile enemies I met ended up becoming a friend. Some of which were actually quite gentle and caring or at the very least no longer willing to hunt me… while others looked towards me as a source of guidance or someone to talk to and cope with their pasts.

 **Flashback shown:** _During the first half of the narration, the male hyena (who`s name is Ed) has his menacing scene shift to one where he is more open and friendly, sharing a cup of tea with the wombat while talking in a happy and friendly tone to her. An echo of some words he says ("Ed is glad to share tea with Digger-Mousie. Is old recipe") are heard before the scene shifts to the female hyena (known as Grim Eyes) just talking to Digger after the wombat saves her from falling off a bridge. Some of her own words ("If the Elders say I may hunt you again, I will warn you first") are also echoed._

 _The other two scenes shown after the brief pause are the shadow creature (known as the Shadowchild) following Digger as the duo walk through the woods, with the creature being heard asking, "Am I a wombat?", to which Digger answers with a no. The last scene in this section of narration shows Digger talk to a teenage girl (named Murai, dressed in a similar fashion to the man Digger is seen with in the last panel) at a graveyard, with the human female lamenting about a traumatic event she had with a God she once encountered, leaving her emotionally broken. ("Just accept that they made a goddess, out of fear and disillusionment. A very bad goddess…And I met her…And now I`m crazy"), is heard echoing from Murai as she is shown burying her head in her arms, with Digger giving her a look of pity._

 **Digger narrating:** "My time wasn`t always stress-free. There were many heartbreaking moments outside of Murai`s I encountered: There was the story of Ed being exiled from his tribe of hyenas, all because he tried to protect his daughter from her physically abusive mother, even though said daughter grew up not knowing him and what he did for her…"

 **Flashback shown:** _The scene transitions from Murai and Digger to the wombat sitting in Ed`s cave, listening to him tell the story of his exile. Behind Ed, flashbacks within this flashback are shown: his infant daughter laying on the ground hurt by her mentally unstable mom followed by Ed ripping out his mates throat in her sleep out of fear and desperation for his child's well-being. Ed`s flashback ends and another scene from the comic is shown: his child Grim-Eyes being hostile to him when she, Ed and Digger are all in the same place for the first time. Ed looks depressed while Grim-Eyes looks indifferent and repulsed by the sight of him._

 **Digger narrating:** "There was also the death of Grim-Eyes friend during an attack. Since I`d avenged her, I ended up visiting the tribe Grim-Eyes lived in as a new honorary member. Here, I befriended another hyena (this one having her eyes cut out and a mask over the top half of her head) called Boneclaw Mother. The elderly yet witty grandmother hyena had me partake in a custom that had me eat a liver. While I tried not to vomit I also met Bloodtail, Grim-Eyes cruel aunt and the real culprit behind Ed`s exile. My time in that village was…hard to describe to say the least".

 **Flashback shown:** _The next scene shows Digger looking at Boneclaw Mother from her throne in the hyena village. After that, the comic style flashes forward to a dinner table with Digger, Grim-Eyes, Boneclaw Mother and the rest of the hyenas present. As Digger reluctantly takes a bite of the liver offered to her, another hyena (Bloodtail) is shown confronting Boneclaw Mother. Boneclaw Mother appears to snark aggressively at her uninvited guest and has her leave. As she does, some of her words echo in the background. ("Get out of my sight. Even your sins are petty".)_

 **Digger narrating:** "Ultimately, my adventure came to a head when I battled an evil God known as Sweetgrass Voice. The intense moment had me and the good guys come out on top. However, Ed ended up sacrificing himself for the win".

 **Flashback shown:** _The flashback shifts to Digger and Ed in an underground tunnel facing the evil entity. It then cuts to Ed cutting a chain that sends the evil entity and himself falling to death. Before this segment ends, Digger is seen standing over her friends lifeless body looking horrified._

 **Digger narrating:** "Despite Boneclaw Mother assuring me that Ed would be remembered by the hyena tribe, I still feel guilt over what happened to him… he`d be alive if I didn`t have him help me out that day. The only earthly thing left of him is his necklace that I`ve worn since as a remembrance. Anyway, after Sweetgrass Voice was taken care of, everyone went their separate ways. The Shadowchild I taught went off to teach others of her kind, the hyenas went back to their way of life at the camp and Murai and her group went off to carry their own guard duties where they were needed. As for me, I was offered a ride on a wagon home…"

 **Flashback shown:** _Shown in order: Boneclaw Mother talking to Digger in assurance, Shadowchild (now bigger) leaving Digger after one last talk, Grim Eyes and Boneclaw Mother heading one direction back home with Digger in the background, Murai and her group heading the other direction on the road and finally Digger in front of a cart with strange creatures in the front and a strange masked man in the drivers seat._

 _The flashbacks suddenly flicker violently and jump back to the present._

The sudden repressed memories that came back to Diggers conscious made her fumble back to her feet gasping for air. As she tried not to remember how that very cart ended up falling down a cliff, killing the coach driver and the two weird creatures pulling it, and had her struggling to survive in the middle of nowhere with broken bones for weeks with few resources, the wombat found herself walking through the nearby foliage. Perhaps she`d walk off these bad thoughts like she walked off the pain after healing enough.

Who am I kidding? I can`t run away from these events…wish there was someone nearby I could talk to. Walking around all this time aimlessly lost…all these months alone… is making my sanity erode. I know it, Digger thought.

[ _As Digger walks through the forest, straining to remember any familiar locations she previously walked by, the story cuts back to Earl as he looks around for the source of the voice that spoke to him._ ]

"Look, I know I heard you say something to me earlier. Why don`t you just stop messing with me and come on out? I`m not dangerous", Earl stated, trying to note his surroundings more carefully.

Suddenly, the voice spoke again, coming clearly from the ground. "Down here weird looking fellow". This time, Earl ended up seeing the speaker and felt his jaws drop in disbelief. There was no mistaking it: the speaker was a small yet sentient slug.

"What`s the matter? Never seen someone like me before?", the slug asked. After a moment of thought, Earl replied, "No, I haven`t seen any talking slugs before. I`ve already encountered talking bears and cats, so there`s something in the zoo…iology…the study of animals, in that department I`ve experienced".

"Of course. That`s what that prophecy I unearthed last week meant. _A moustache man, furry in his newly expanded world view. Whether it be friend or foe, will he run into you?_ ", the slug said, making Earl give another baffled look.

 **Earl narrating:** "After leaving Angus` apartment through the teleporter device, I`d ended up going through a lot to get to this dimension. And quite frankly, hearing that I was part of some prophecy just seemed to be one simple extraordinary event behind a whole lot of other extraordinary events".

 **Scene shown:** _The story pauses to a still of Earl looking at the talking slug in confusion before it goes back in time to the man in Angus and Greggs apartment with his group about to leave. The flashback replays Earl accidently taking his hands off the device to cover a sneeze and hastily regrabbing it a moment too late. Following this, Earl is then seen flying through the empty black void again._

 **Earl narrating:** "After I got used to the feeling of falling faster than the speed of light, I tried to look for everyone else in my group. At the time, I thought I`d just been separated from the other four, with them not being too far away. As I continued to fall aimlessly, I ended up meeting another group of people/animals". 

**Scene shown:** _Earl looks around the black void frantically for any of his party members, clearly worried that he`s all alone here. He then hears some screaming and finds himself looking towards the group that contains Richard Bucket, Liz, Vianna and all the other animals._

" _Hey! Excuse me!? Are you guys real?!", Earl found himself calling out as he steadily drifted by them. Everyone in the other group looked towards him in surprise. "Of course we`re real! Who do you think we are!?", Velvet ended up shouting as Devan nervously clung onto her, not wanting to spin out of control again._

" _Wait, who are you exactly!? We`ve been here for what feels like months! Are you some sort of miracle worker coming to save us!?", Richard called out as he tried to get closer to Earl, only for his efforts not to work thanks to the distance between the two men. "No, not a miracle worker! Just a guy who`s trying to help save some friends of these new acquatences I`ve made! It`s a long and complicated story!", Earl called back. "Don`t we all have one these days", Vianna commented to herself as she watched Earls efforts to get closer to the group also fail._

 _Seeing Richard start to move too far away, Thomas and James quickly worked together to bring the senior man back in the semi-circle of free fallers._

 _Before either Earl or the human/animal group could say or do anything else, Earl ended up sailing out of sight. He faintly heard shouting from Liz, James and Vianna, though he couldn`t make out what was said. A minute later, he noticed a bright light and braced himself for the landing that was to come._

 **Earl narrating:** "I really wished that group I`d met had come with me. It seemed like they went through something that I also experienced and had interesting details to fill me in on; to tell parts of a grand conspiracy I didn`t know about. Anyway, here I was: by myself in another forest talking to a slug. With me on my own, it seemed he was the only help I was going to get at my time of need".

 **Scene shown:** _The story reaches the present moment again with Earl still looking at the slug, which starts to move past some leaves._

"If you`re a magic slug that can tell prophecies, can you find something that will tell me more about who you are or where we are? Some answers would be good at this moment", Earl said as he watched the slug move before looking around his new environment uncomfortably.

"First off, I`m not exactly a magic slug. I`m an oracle… who just happens to be a slug. Me and my ancestors were granted this ability by accident in the past. All we do is move over a leaf and it tells us some future though a complex set of words. Really puts stress on the old noggin". The slug said, gesturing to its forehead with one of its long eyes.

"Really? You expect me to believe…actually, I`ve heard of weirder things happening back in Camden. Compared to those stories, yours is credible. What did that…leaf say to you this time?", Earl asked, looking at the biggest leaf he saw the slug pass over.

"It`s hard to say what exactly. But then again, everything I`m told is hard to comprehend at first. Basically, the prophecy I picked up said, " _Laughter and a past is key to your faith, be it for the better than worse._ "

"What?", Earl asked, scratching his chin in confusion. "Hey, it`s like I said: things are hard to comprehend. The answer doesn`t come to me easily, if ever. What you heard could involve someone else nearby, though whether you`d want to meet them or not…lets just say this place had some evil beings lurking before", the slug replied in a snarky and then serious tone.

"Do you think that if you go over another leaf, you`ll get a better concrete idea of what that prophecy said? Far as I know, I`m involved in the center of it somehow", Earl said as he looked around the environment, noticing many leaves around him.

"Could be worth a try…though I`d probably need something to inebriate me afterwards. All these zany tidbits of information really drive me up the wall at times", the slug replied. Earl nodded before walking away momentarily. The slugs words stuck to his mind and he tried not to let it get to him.

Looking around, Earl tried to spot a leaf that wasn`t too ruffled or dirty to give to the slug. Said task turned out to be easier said than done, as all the leaves seemed to have tears or dirt on their surfaces.

Gazing upward next, Earl then spotted what looked like a perfect yellow leaf on a tree branch just out of his reach. "Bingo!", he exclaimed as he jumped up and tried to grab his potential ticket to finding help.

After a few failed attempts to get the leaf, Earl looked around in frustration and found a stick that seemed to be just right. Picking it up, he tried to poke the leaf down to him without damaging it. As he did this task, he suddenly felt as though someone were close by, with the tight space of the area giving him the creeps.

"Maybe it`s just the wind…no way anything in this world is dangerous…right?", Earl found himself say out loud as the feeling of being watched grew stronger. Was it the evil lurking beings that the slug mentioned coming for him?

[ _The story cuts back to Digger as she keeps wandering through the forest_ ]

Pulling out her pick-axe to move some low hanging branches out of her way, Digger started to mutter some complaints under her breathe. If only she had a map, a compass or something travel related, she`d feel better knowing where she was going at the very least. Back home, there were places that often sold these things. Why, on her fifth birthday her parents had allowed her to pick out some of their supplies for them off the store shelves in preparation for a major mining project taking place.

Diggers thoughts of home clouded her awareness for a moment, resulting in a tree branch meeting her face. The wombat gave a yelp and brushed it aside, stumbling forward with momently blurred vision into someone in front of her.

The second she recovered, the figure she`d collided into let out a loud bloodcurdling scream that chilled the wombat to the bone. Apparently, this creature was frightened by the sudden sight of an animal he`d never seen before, and one that was holding a potential murder weapon at that.

Digger, now at her wits end after everything, looked at what the creature in front of her was holding, believing it was an equally dangerous object. Was it a spear? Like one she was nearly stabbed with before?

Moving back, Digger held up her sole object of defense, giving the threatening impression to swing her pickaxe.

Right away, the person flung the stick at the wombat. Digger blocked it and let out a cry that dominated wombat lore for generations. "Remember Tunnel 17!", she shouted as she swung at the figures legs, feeling provoked enough to counterstrike.

Digger missed her critical swing, giving the mystery being the chance to move forward and yank the pickaxe from her hand. "Hey! Give that back! That pickaxe was a gift from my mom!", Digger shouted as she watched her possible enemy run away through the trees with it.

Barely thinking straight, Digger quickly began to go after the person, losing sight of him in a matter of seconds. Apparently, the fear he`d felt towards her gave him the adrenaline boost he needed, along with the fact that her shorter legs made her pacing be slower. Stopping, Digger watched the tree branches the creature brushed by sway a little before coming to a lifeless stop.

"Blood and shale! All the terrible things I went through and now this! Could my day get any worse?", Digger exclaimed face palming herself when she realized there was really no way to catch up to the thief.

Taking a few steps forward after several moments of thought and planning, Digger intended to try and find something to substitute for a pickaxe, feeling anything weak was better than nothing. At least now she had a clearer goal to focus on.

Out of nowhere, Digger felt the ground under her feet give was and found herself tumble downward, landing on a hard surface, with her shoulders taking most of the impact.

The wombats vision faded to black, then apparently came back a little when she thought she saw two kids looking down at her, both of them looking with mouths agape. Failing to sit up, Digger tried to speak but felt she couldn`t. The last thing she clearly recalled was a third older human looking down at her, talking. The kids were no longer in sight.

"Well, well, well. Looks like I was right when I guessed who those two boys saw. From the looks of things, you`re still getting into all kinds of trouble that I have to patch up now and again. Welcome back to the village Digger", said the female voice.

Digger tried to reply but found herself fall asleep from the pain zapping all her energy. As she was carefully lifted onto a makeshift stretcher that somehow appeared next to her, she managed to turn her head a little and noticed that she found civilization at last.

[ _The story cuts back to Earl running through the forest with Diggers pickaxe in hand. As he slows down, he looks back to make sure nothing is following him._ ]

 **Earl narrating:** "I didn`t know what had happened back there exactly, but it seems my paranoia got the best of me and triggered my fight-flight instinct. The details got blurry the more I thought about them, especially when I noticed I got a new tool in hand".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl is seen slowing down and trying to catch his breathe. As he quickly recovers, he looks at his right hand and sees the pickaxe. An expression of confusion takes over._

"Son of a bitch. What the hell is this?", Earl asked himself as he studied the mining tool. To him, it looked like a far superior model to the ones he`d seen in the supply stores. The handle was still polished despite being a few years old, there was only a little rust on the blade and on the very bottom, someone had carved the number 17.

As Earl took a step forward to note the carving in a better light, he suddenly heard a loud noise and found himself dangling upside down next to a tree, curtesy of a snare trap.

Earl let out a frantic cry and waved his empty hand around wildly, trying to grab onto something. When he realized that wasn`t the best idea, he managed to look up and got a clear view of the rope. Quickly, he raised the pickaxe and tried to use the sharp tip to cut it, only for several weird noises around him to make him pause the idea.

Around him were these strange female creatures wearing only loincloths, upper body cloth and war paint (with a few small necklaces and piercings here and there). As one of them came up, menacingly holding a real spear, Earl let out a nervous laugh and said, "Hey…speak English?"

When the lead creature of the pack began examining Earl, wondering if he was worth butchering for dinner tonight, she suddenly noticed the pickaxe in his hand. Right away, a look of confusion and shock came on her face as she yanked it from him.

"Look, I know this looks bad, but I didn`t mean to steal it from the original owner. I`m not trying to do things like that in my life anymore. If you`d just cut me down I`d be happy to return it", Earl nervously said as he heard the creature sniff the pickaxe, inspecting it in great detail.

To the man's surprise, the anthro hyena in front of him suddenly spoke. "Earth rat? Little Mother of Earthquakes earth rat?" This made all the other hyenas next to her lower their guard mildly to look at one another in confusion, muttering amongst themselves.

Before Earl could make a comment, he felt himself lifted by the hair to be face to face with the grim eyed hyena. "Where did you find this?", she asked, showing him the pickaxe. "If you`re some sort of law officer, can I speak to a lawyer first?", Earl found himself say, instantly regretting him moment of stupidity.

The hyena glared at Earl and let out a growl before turning to two of her closest comrades. "Throat Ripper, Arrow Slayer, cut this man down and tie him up. Tribe and Boneclaw Mother will want to hear about this. A distant member of the tribe may be in trouble".

"No, no, no. You don`t understand. I`ve been through a lot. If you`d just hear me out-", Earl managed to say as he saw two equally threatening anthro hyenas walk up to him. Before any more words could be said, Earl then found himself get flung back into the tree behind him, resulting in him getting knocked out from the impact.


	45. Digger- Part 2

At another quiet and isolated part of the forest a strange and loud booming noise was heard, prompting all the non-anthro wildlife to run away. After they were out of sight, the new Alpha Drone of the Bosses army appeared out of thin air and managed to land perfectly, with the drone army materializing in a similar fashion behind the _alligator/fox._

"Alpha Drone, are you in Dimension U.V-Wombat?", the Boss immediately asked his brainwashed drone commander before _Bea/Gregg_ could even get a good look at the surrounding area. "Yes, we`re all here. Awaiting further orders", was the reply.

"Good, now listen up: You`re going to lead the fraction of the drone army behind you to the assigned location. It`s where the dimension eraser will be planted…and it looks like the info I sent just reached you", the Boss said as _Bea`s/Gregg`s_ headband made a funny noise, causing the animal to twitch mildly.

Continuing as if the event was unimportant, the boss said, "Once you get to the location with the device in place, wait for the dimension eraser countdown to get near zero and then teleport out of there to your next assigned world… Honestly, I don`t know why I need to tell you this. Project Collar has you basically running this army on auto piolet along with five others in nearby dimensions…whatever, I guess I like to gloat and all that. Look, just escort and freeze anyone you see. That`s pretty much it. Got it?"

"Affirmative", _Bea/Gregg_ replied before the transmission ended (mainly consisting the Boss self-praising himself on how smart he was). Right away, the New Alpha made sure all drones that were dispatched in this area and all the other areas were functioning and ready to attack, especially the four drones carrying the dimension eraser (being a few miles off from the _alligator's/foxes_ current location).

Once that task was done, the New Alpha Drone then had a few of _her/his_ hover drones comb the skies, spotting several settlements to attack in order within the span of two minutes, with the last village being the location of the dimension erasers planting place.

 **Bea:** _After coordinating the perfect route, the last thing the Alpha Drone did before the army moved was check on the real Bea from behind the mind control devices. It seemed like Bea was busy enjoying a history class, fully convinced she was in the real world and not in an artificial one._

 **Gregg:** _After coordinating the perfect route, the last thing the Alpha Drone did before the army moved was check on the real Gregg from behind the mind control device. It seemed like Gregg and his actual fake boyfriend were enjoying a swim in the rooftop pool, fully convinced he was in the real world and not in an artificial one._

Convinced that there was nothing that could stop the invasion from within or around, _Bea/Gregg_ then had the drones move towards their assigned locations, determined to freeze and capture everyone here and make this world appear as if it never even existed.

The _alligator/ fox_ then moved quickly forward with their freeze pistol drawn, determined to cause a lot of chaos _her/him-self_ along the way. And down the list of locations to attack was a village of unaware anthro hyenas, meaning that harms way was coming for them faster than they`d ever expect.

[Elsewhere]

As the grim eyed hyena led her hunting party back to their settlement, she glanced back towards the unconscious and bound human being transported alongside the group and tried to recall who he was exactly. She`d seen humans before and had even worked with one once for a mission her grandmother had tasked her to, but there was no one quite like him in terms of what she had seen previously.

Unlike the typical outfits worn by the village members close by, this man had attire that was completely alien. He had a funny patterned shirt, shoes that had strange designs on them and a moustache that looked kinda like it was combed for flirting (like this one ex-lovers mane the grim eyed hyena had previously dated (the thought made the grim eyed hyena shake those memories off in annoyance)).

The grim eyed hyena, known to her tribe as Grim-Eyes, has one of her party members run ahead to let the village know what her team had found, with the pick axe of Little Mother of Earthquakes in hand. By the time the hunting group had their home in sight, a small crowd had gathered to witness who was found with the pick axe.

Grim-Eyes noticed some of the hyenas in front of her looked scared from the sight of the odd human. Others looked aggressive (with growling noises coming from their throats) while some (mostly the males) kept a distance, as if fearing this stranger would suddenly break free and go on a rampage. It was when Grim-Eyes reached the entrance to the village that the actual talking and questioning began.

"What is this thing?", "Smells like mead", "We should cook it for dinner tonight. Bet its bones will be easy to grind"

Standing in front of the human, Grim Eyes let out a loud growl and silenced the chatter. At this point, she found it would be best to explain things before any mob mentality fully took over.

"You have probably heard from Arrow Slayer by now that this creature was found with a possession of our honorary tribe member Little Mother of Earthquakes. Her scent on the object was very recent, yet she was not found within the area after a quick scouting".

"When I questioned the male human you see behind me, he spoke suspicious and ominous things and responded to my question of our potentially harmed tribemate in a jovial and deflective fashion, which means he may know something yet refuses to answer honestly. I feel at this point an interrogation from Boneclaw Mother and the council will help us learn about what happened to the slayer of Sweetgrass Voice and if she is safe. I`m sure someone's already alerting our leader as I speak".

As soon as Grim-Eyes finished talking, one of the hyenas close by gave her a look of contempt. She curtly spoke before any chatter could break out again. "You are a fool Grim-Eyes. Bringing this…thing back to our home, and for what? Checking up on an outsider who is clearly more prey than sister. Already you have opened the door for disaster. The man may be a general to an invasion force. He may be a dictator of a cruel nation seeking to expand…"

"He is just a human restrained. If he is any danger, Boneclaw Mother shall find out for us after we let her speak to him. She may be old, but her tactics and interrogation skills are as sharp as ever", Grim-Eyes replied, giving a hostile look back towards her aunt with her fists clutched tightly.

"Boneclaw Mother is also a fool, for her old age is clouding her judgement more than yours. But then again, considering she raised you since your youth (She-Is Fiercer only knows why), some of her futile ways may have imprinted them on you", the hyena continuing, actually daring to push her luck.

A lot of the surrounding hyenas could only watch the conflict in silence, wondering where things would go. Given the status of Grim-Eyes` aunt Bloodtail being one to start internal conflict with her pettiness and harsh words alone (though more often if anyone spoke of her wrongdoings that were known and unknown by everyone), it was inevitable that harsh drama would soon form.

Thankfully, Arrow Slayer emerged from a hut across the village that housed the hyenas leader and got in between Grim-Eyes and Bloodtail, quelling any potential conflict for the time being.

"Well, what has Boneclaw Mother said to you?", Grim-Eyes immediately asked, trying to swallow her contempt and focus on what was really important.

Without hesitating, the hunter for the hyena clan quickly answered, "She says that she and the rest of her council wish to see this weird human and speak to him. Though she didn`t clarify specifically, Boneclaw Mother also mentioned something about a bad omen connected to all this".

After pondering for a moment if the fate of the wombat was connected to the bad omen, Grim-Eyes thanked Arrow Slayer for her help and took over for one of her fellow hunters carrying the human. She strongly told her tribe to clear the way and brushed past them, moving towards the hut she spent a lot of her youth in after the tragedy that cost both her parents.

As the small crowd dispersed and returned to their usual tasks, Bloodtail stayed at the entrance. She glared at the human and then at the land outside the village, knowing something bad would come as a result of not killing this obvious foe right away.

 **Earl narrating:** "The first thing I could remember after being knocked out was waking up tied like a pig for a Hawaiian Luau. And even though I`d been somewhat desensitized to the concept of anthro animals existing, I was still caught off guard to find myself coming to in a village of anthro hyenas".

 **Scene shown:** _As Grim-Eyes and the other hyena take Earl to Boneclaw Mothers hut, Earl is shown slowly waking up and examining his surroundings. It doesn`t take too long for him to be alarmed at what he`s seeing, especially when he notes that his hands and feet are tied to a stick, leaving him dangling above the ground._

Hearing Earl gasp in horror, Grim-Eyes glanced behind her and saw the human struggle a bit to get out of his bindings. After letting out a warning growl, prompting him to stop, the hyena sternly said, "I honestly don`t know who you are or what you did before me and my group found you, but I`m sure you`ll be telling us one way or another really soon. That I can guarantee".

"Where are you taking me?", Earl managed to murmur when he noticed Boneclaw Mothers hut, which gave him a feeling of discomfort from the outer décor of animal bones (hopefully all of them were animal bones, were they?).

"Tell me what you did to our tribemate to get her pickaxe. Perhaps I can spare you some pain to come if the worst did in fact happened to her", Grim-Eyes stated, slowing down her walk a bit to give the human more time to speak while the talk of the bad omen weighed unknowingly on her expected answer.

 **Earl narrating:** "Despite the fact that my life was potentially on the line, I had a hard time getting a word out. When I look back at it, I`m guessing it was a mix of being in a new environment, being interrogated by this no nonsense hyena and not knowing the whereabouts of the wombat to give a more concrete answer (along with the memory of our panic induced encounter) that had the cat getting my tongue".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl is shown struggling to speak and looks around nervously, like a guilty suspect caught in an intense interrogation. Grim-Eyes continues to glare at Earl and quickly gets fed up by his lack of response, prompting her to signal the other hyena to pick up the walking pace again._

"So you won`t talk? Pity. I`m sure Boneclaw Mother will have you scared for your life within the span of a few minutes. Knowing her, she isn`t the kind to show mercy to uncooperative enemies, much less those who are giving off a suspicious vibe in regards to a troublesome situation", Grim-Eyes said, almost with a sadistic grin.

A few moments later, Earl and the two hyenas found themselves entering the hut. "So…this is the stranger you found caught in our trap? The one you found with the pick axe of our adopted member?", an elderly voice from across the room said.

"It is him indeed. What shall we do now?", Grim Eyes asked as Earl tried to get a good look at this "Boneclaw Mother". He noticed a slightly slouched figure sitting on a throne (almost looking like a regular chair) with a single deer skull atop it.

Despite the décor and the circumstances, Earl suddenly wondered for a moment why he was scared of her. Unlike the other hyenas he`d seen, this one looked calmer and basically had a grandmotherly feel to her, like she`d offer a homemade tray of cookies instead of tearing out his throat.

However, the unease slowly came back when the elderly hyena stood up and slowly approached Earl, bluntly telling Grim-Eyes and the other hyena to set him down. It sounded like she meant business, yet remained open to interpretation for what was to be said.

As Earl was laid helplessly to the floor, he looked up and noticed the hyena wore a mask on the upper half of her head, reminiscent of a Medieval day's executioner. Where her eyes should be had in place two white pebbles that seemed to give the impression of a cold gaze.

"Excuse me…why are you wearing that mask?", Earl managed to say as he noticed Boneclaw Mother take in his scent, all while several other hyenas came in. Not being able to resist scaring him a bit, Grim-Eyes leaned over and said, "She doesn`t have her eyes anymore, so you can only imagine how those sockets look after all those years. She can also see quite as well as you and I, despite this".

"Grim-Eyes, don`t frighten him child. Friend or foe, we won`t learn what he knows with if he`s in a state of fear", Boneclaw Mother said upon hearing Earl shiver, making Grim-Eyes back down right away with regret. Unlike Bloodtail, she knew it was best not to cross the line with…basically anything involving Boneclaw Mother. For a moment even Earl was impressed with the elder's charisma, enough to stop being creeped out by the whole eye factor.

Feeling a bit more confident as the shock factor left him, Earl looked directly at Boneclaw Mother in what felt like the eye and said, "This may not look good for me given the circumstances, but I didn`t hurt anyone in this world".

Boneclaw Mother leaned down and felt Earls face a bit, prompting him to look a bit baffled. "You have come long and far in your life since a faithful day changed your perspective on things. A desire to right many wrongs. And conflict has reached you in an unexpected way then and outside the reason for you being here recently, has it not?", she asked taking in all the facial details, as if it`d get her answers to all the unsolved questions.

"That`s an understatement", Earl replied in stunned awe before Boneclaw Mother backed away, giving the impression she knew a lot about him in his distant past already, before and after he`d discovered karma.

Noticing his expression, Grim-Eyes couldn't help but momentarily question herself as to how Boneclaw Mother still did it. The way she could creep out and impress everyone seemed like it was impossible, yet here was another example of the skill in action.

Looking towards one of the hyenas who`s entered after Grim-Eyes, Boneclaw Mother order her to cut Earl free. In the span of five seconds and a fast set of hands, the knots were undone and Earl slowly got back on his feet, rubbing his wrists a bit while getting the impression the elderly hyena towered him despite her shorter stature.

As he looked around and saw a dozen hyenas glancing neutrally and menacingly at him, Earl found himself asking what was going to happened next. Three female hyenas and one male hyena brushed past him and stood next to Boneclaw Mother while the rest held onto their weapons, ready to strike if Earl made a move against anyone.

Letting out an eerily warm smile, Boneclaw Mother replied, "The only thing that can happened next: Finding out what has happened to the Little Mother of Earthquakes through your words and credibility to them, when you manage to find them. And if guilty of doing something heinous to her, then how to carry out justice on you. Do not try to deceive us with flattery or trickery, for even I can see a lie within the words spoken".

As if to add extra emphasis, one of the hyenas next to Earl twirled her hunting blade close by him, nearly cutting his shirt in the process. Boneclaw Mother gave that hyena a light reprimand as well while Earl found himself wondering how he`d get out of this one.

[Elsewhere again]

For an unknown amount of time, Digger felt as if her mind had drifted everywhere. She didn`t know if she was okay or dying after taking a tumble down what was a large cliffside, yet a state of slumber dominated her subconscious and put her recent and long lasting fears to a temporary ease.

In this metal state, one the wombat almost found herself yearning to stay in, not even the harshest toxic thought could get to her, giving her a sense of invincibility (like wearing the best mining gear any store had to offer for a dangerous excavation). That sense of immunity changed when she felt something crawl up one of her arms, triggering her fight or flight instinct within.

Letting out a startled scream, Digger felt herself jolt awake and sit up, expecting to see someone looming very close by with the intent to kill. To her dismay, she only saw it was just a caterpillar and halfheartedly shook it off her, mumbling, "No need to give me a scare like that". Once the caterpillar was gone, Digger rubbed her shoulders and head and slowly sat up, taking in the forest location. Right away, she knew something was off even without the distant fog limiting her line of sight.

"Blood and shale. Wasn`t I near a village a moment ago?", the wombat found herself say aloud as she recalled the last memories she experienced. She was sure that even as she was passing out, there were some buildings nearby she was being taken to by some humans. How did she end up back in the place she started? Did the humans just leave her here, not wanting to put up with her kind?

As Digger began to walk forward and looked around uneasily (with the feeling of long term isolation coming back and not helping her sanity), she tried to pull out her pickaxe and realized it was still missing. "Of course. That strange being took it", she said, a bit frustrated with her forgetfulness, as well as annoyed that she had nothing to defend herself from anything probably stalking her from the fog.

Before she could look around for a substitute pickaxe, the sudden sound of a stick breaking prompted Digger to look to her right. What she saw immediately was a strange and menacing silhouetted figure approaching her at a steady pace, making the wombat nearly jump out of her fur.

It seemed like running from this obvious predator was not a good option since Digger knew she had shorter legs, and burrowing to safety would be next to impossible without her trusty pickaxe. Like a real helpless prey animal, Digger quickly realized that this time she was trapped and couldn`t do anything expect hug herself nervously.

As she wondered how death would feel like in the jaws of the creature (all while mumbling "Blood and shale" over and over in a near hysterical freak-out), said creature unexpectedly let out a chuckle from behind the fog and spoke casually.

"Digger mousie, calm down. No need to panic at a time like this".

The second she realized who`s voice it was, Digger stopped shivering and stared ahead into the fog in front of her in disbelief. "…Ed? Is that you?", she managed to say before the familiar and gentle hyena she`d met and befriended long ago stepped into view.

As she continued to stare at the fellow anthro creature and came to the inevitable conclusion that it was in fact Ed, the hyena smiled at her and continued to say in a calm snarky tone, "It is Ed. Who else were you expecting out here?", "Oh, nobody really. It`s just that the place feels so empty, I wouldn`t be surprised if nobody else was within a hundred miles of us in all directions…", Digger said with some of her own snark, though weariness to the whole situation now dominated her thoughts.

Noticing the discomfort in the wombat's facial expression, Ed`s own smile fell as he asked her what was wrong. "I…I know this is probably obvious, but… I saw you die when we defeated Sweetgrass Voice together Ed. I found your…your remains not long after the battle ended…", Digger said, trying not to cry from that memory for a moment.

"Yes. It is true. Ed is no longer residing in the world of the living. Ed is deceased", the hyena replied, his own ears drooping in a bit of sadness.

"Are we both in the afterlife? Did I join you here when I might have died back near that village?", Digger asked after a moment as she looked around again, thinking more about the circumstances that brought her here with worry.

Shaking his head, Ed replied reassuringly, "No need to fear Digger mousie. You are still alive and in a dream. Real you is out cold in a bed being cared for by a grumpy young nurse muttering something about you being the biggest accident prone person she ever cared for", "The hag? Well, at least I know where I am in the real world", Digger replied, happy to find some form of clarity.

Ed took a few steps closer and got a better look at the wombat. Right away, he noticed something more complex was wrong with Digger. Something he`d also unfortunately experienced when he was alive. Deciding it would be best to speak in a comfier environment, Ed offered the wombat an invite to his home for some of his special tea.

A few minutes later, Digger found herself in a familiar situation she`d experienced more than once years ago. She was sitting in a cave with painting on the wall behind her (curtesy of Ed`s past in the hyena tribe as a skin painter), with Ed kneeling close by, brewing some homemade tea in a makeshift kettle.

As Ed finished boiling the drink and got two makeshift cups, Digger felt her stomach squirm. On one hand, Ed`s tea wasn`t exactly the best. There was this odd taste to it that made her feel like she ate dirt whenever she sipped it.

On the other hand, this was her friend she was talking about. Even in a dream, it would feel rude to turn down a kind offer. Plus, Digger had admittedly eaten worse in the two years she was out by herself in order to stay alive. This liquid that was being served to her was probably a tastier option by comparison.

Ed brought the two cups of tea over and set one down at the rock slab Digger sat at. As he took a gulp from his own drink, Digger reluctantly picked up hers and took a tiny sip. To her shock, this tea tasted far better than Ed`s usual.

"Ed knew that Digger mousie didn`t like Ed`s tea that much back then", Ed commented as he saw Diggers expression. "What? Oh, I didn`t exactly hate your tea…", Digger quickly began, not wanting to make the dream feel more awkward. Letting out a small chuckle, Ed sat down across from Digger as he said, "No need to cover up for something you hated. Ed knows his tea was bad, so he found a way to get better brewing it in the next life. Superb, is it not?", "…Yeah. It did get better. Has a nice aftertaste to", Digger admitted before taking one more gulp.

After waiting for Digger to finish her whole cup, Ed immediately began to talk about his main concerns. "Ed can tell that something else is bothering Digger mousie besides waking up in this dream. Something he has lived through for years on end. Have you been spending many days and nights alone? Nobody to talk to or keep you company?"

Setting her cup down, Digger took a few deep breathes and nodded, trying to keep some of the traumatic memories she experienced at bay again while she told her tale. "After Sweetgrass Voice was defeated, this guy called Trader Samuel offered me a lift on his wagon to get me back home. I ended up taking his offer, thinking that I would return to my family and community with no problems. I also thought the ride would be at the very least peaceful and uneventful, since my mind was partially clouded with all the goodbyes I`ve said and experienced".

Ed gave a sad nod as he noted his necklace was being worn by the wombat. After taking a moment to reflect bittersweetly that someone still remembered him in the world of the living, he gently got Digger to continue her story, feeling it would be best for his friend to air out all her repressed grief. That process helped him when he told the wombat his exile story, so it might do her the same favors as well.

"For a few weeks, nothing extraordinary happened. No shadowchildren met up with me to figure out who they were, no Veiled threatened to arrest me…it was all as plain and simple as it could be. The wildest thing that happened involved Trader Samuel stopping at some settlements to do business, basically going in and out of the place while I slept cozily in the back. Then, at this isolated cliff area, the wagon had an accident", Digger stated.

The wombat continued talking while Ed put a gentle hand on her shoulder, as to sooth her if things became too much to bare. "I was sitting in the back carving a block of wood when I heard a loud snapping noise. Before I could even ask Samuel what it was, I found myself taking a huge tumble with the now three wheeled cart down a rocky surface all the way to the bottom. How I managed to survive with mild injuries was a miracle, especially when I found Samuels corpse and discovered how twisted and damaged it was by comparison".

"After I recovered enough to walk long distances without feeling deep pain again, I tried to find civilization; anyone else who could help me find my way home. However, it turns out that the cart crashed in an empty area of land, with no settlements or sentient living souls around for miles. All I could do at that point was walk until I found something or someone".

"For…I don`t know how long it really was. I ended up losing track of the days after a while…It was just me traversing the unknown land, walking in circles for months and spending some of my worst moments shouting like a mad woman for help. Judging by where I ended up today, luck finally found me again. I`m no longer alone in the real world…yet somehow I still feel as empty as ever", Digger said, before unexpectedly shivering at the last part.

Before Ed could ask Digger anything else, the wombat looked up towards him and said, "I know this is kind of silly, but can I have another cup of tea? That seems to help ease the pain a little", "Sure thing", Ed replied.

As Ed got busy brewing Digger another kettle full of the tasty tea, Digger asked the hyena if the pain of inner loneliness would ever go away. "It takes time Digger mousie. Ed was alone for a long time as well, thinking he`d never experience the joy of having a friend or even an acquaintance. But then he met and spoke to you, and things started to feel gradually better with each visit", Ed answered.

"So are you suggesting I try to find someone to talk to in the village when I wake up? Gee, I hope I don`t sound too funny during a conversation with a stranger", Digger replied, finding herself snarking again.

"You sound like you`re speaking to me quite well Digger mousie. No difference in dialogue when we chatted back then", Ed replied, making Digger nod a little. "Guess you`re right. All those talks I had to myself might have kept my grammar intact", she said.

A minute later, Ed gave Digger another cup of tea. As she drank this one in a steadier pace, the wombat continued to listen to her friend speak to her. "There are more friends than strangers among you when thinking about it Digger mousie. Ed`s old home, the one Ed came from, is nearby for example. And someone else from the human village is coming over, about to get a surprise to see you still there".

"Wait, what exactly are you talking about? I understand what you mean by Grim-Eyes and Boneclaw Mother (can`t believe I forgot about them for a while), but the village part needs more detail. I know more than one human…Ed?", Digger asked before noticing her friend had seemingly vanished in midair. As she nearly dropped her cup and looked around frantically, his voice seemed to echo around the environment as if he were in front of her and everywhere.

"Don`t worry Digger, Ed will watch over and help you overcome what is to take place very soon", "What are you talking about Ed? Come on, you`re starting to spook me a little", Digger said as she stood up.

The moment she did, the cave vanished and she found herself in the middle of a random field. Across from her was a shadow that resembled her, only it gave an ominous vibe as it glared soullessly at her. "Blood and shale. Who is that?", Digger asked, staring at the foe as it murmured evil things at her, as if to cause a sense of intimidation.

Right away, she noticed that she didn`t have the urge to run away blindly or cower in surrendering defeat like her previous two encounters. Instead, she felt confident enough to confront…her darker self in a tactful fashion like all her other situations in the past, despite the fact that a lot of the words still managed to pester her.

"You can fight your own personal demon Digger mousie. Destroy it. Don`t let the fear it left you in defy you", Ed`s voice said as a strange entity appeared alongside Digger. "You know, I`ve had many dreams, and out of all of them this ones starting to become the most surreal", Digger couldn`t help but comment as she looked at the shapeless entity, thinking she saw someone familiar start to form.

"Hey, since when do dreams ever make complete sense? Just go with it and think of someone you know who can help you beat your main internal struggle", Ed said with a hint of sarcasm, making Digger smile a bit somehow.

After giving a nod, Digger looked at the entity again and tried to imagine someone she knew who could kick tail in any brawl.

Right away, Grim-Eyes came to her mind, as she felt the hyena was probably still one of the best warriors of the tribe, despite not seeing her in any action in the time of her absence. She`d been through a lot with her, and wouldn`t back down at the thought of taking on a serious foe.

For some odd reason though, the image of the strange being she`d met in the woods earlier also came into mind, contrasting the hyena warrior yet also giving an impression that he`d been through a lot in terms of his own brawls, and that he`d be more than helpful for this one.

"Blood and shale. Who to pick, who to pick?", Digger told herself, mulling over the two options as her evil counterpart patiently waited for her to make the first move.

 **Prompt that appears onscreen:**

 _ **Summon Grim-Eyes to help fight (square button)**_ **or** _ **Summon Earl to help fight (circle button)**_

 _-As a ten second timer appears below the two options. an image of Grim-Eyes looking ready to fight appears next to Digger before it fades out, being replaced by an image of Earl, who also looks ready to fight himself. The two images go back and forth in coming into view and fading away within the entity. While this is all happening, Digger scratches her chin and is shown thinking deeply about her options._

In the blink of an eye, the answer suddenly came to the wombat.

 **Picked Grim-Eyes to help fight:** "What am I even doing? Looking towards the help of a stranger when I have a more trustworthy option? Would mother have been upset or what", Digger muttered to herself as she focused soley on Grim-Eyes, letting the strange being fade away for good.

In less than five seconds, Grim-Eyes was standing next to Digger with a spear in hand and a desire to kill towards the enemy. "Blood and shale. Is that really you Grim-Eyes? You almost look like the last time I saw you in the flesh", Digger said in amazement, only to get no reply to that question.

Instead, Grim-Eyes glared at the shadowy version of the wombat across from her and growled, "You ready to go into battle against me? Ha! Prepare to be defeated and devoured!", "Well, seems we`re not beating around the bush on this", Digger could only say as she grabbed a stick that came close to feeling like her pickaxe.

 **Picked Earl to help fight:** "Sorry Grim-Eyes. An unpredictable foe might have a better chance of being defeated by me and an unpredictable ally…You know, that logic sounded better in my head than out loud", Digger muttered to herself as she found mind thinking more about the mysterious being, thereby making the image of the hyena fade away forever.

In less than five seconds, the weird creature stood next to Digger with his fists clenched, looking ready to fight the evil version of the wombat he was facing. Quickly, Digger noticed the being was in fact a human, kind of like the ones she`d encountered before passing out in the real world. The only difference was his odd mannerisms, fashion and odor (though seeing as she found humans weird in general, this didn`t bother the wombat too much).

"Whoa! We going to fight this thing or what?", the human exclaimed as he gave the shadowy version of the wombat a taunting look. "So you`re the type that likes to brawl? For this situation, I`d say that`s good enough for me", Digger said as she grabbed a stick close by that almost felt like her pickaxe.

At this point, the shadowy wombat had decided that it`d waited enough and made a move, charging towards Digger and her ally while letting out louder ominous whispers of guilt, insanity and loneliness. A split second later, Digger and _Grim-Eyes/the human_ charged as well, with Digger yelling, "REMEMBER TUNNEL 17!", at the top of her lungs while her ally let out a battle cry.

As she and the shadowy wombat clashed, Digger did her best to block out the voices trying to demoralize her and focused all her efforts on winning, with a part of her feeling that Ed was rooting for her somewhere.

 **Fight 6-1:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Digger**

 **-Grim-Eyes (if picked)**

 **-Earl (if picked)**

 _ **Opponent:**_

 _ **-**_ **Dark and Evil Wombat Creature**

 _After the fight:_

The second after Digger threw the last blow and literally shattered her dark foe to pieces, she looked around and noticed the ally of her choice was gone, similar to how Ed disappeared into thin air earlier.

"Seriously? Nobody here says goodbye even? Little curtesy that hard to give?", Digger told herself as she stepped away from her foes shattered remains, which eroded in tiny puffs of smoke.

As the wombat started to walk around the area, trying to find someone or something again, she began feeling oddly a bit better about herself. The mental strain she had wasn`t entirely gone, but it did feel notably less present when comparing it to this morning.

Out of nowhere the surrounding fog suddenly began to get heavier, obscuring Diggers view even more as she let out a few coughs. As she strained to see anything, she noticed the silhouette of Ed in the distance again, this time walking away.

"Ed! Where are you going!? Come back!", Digger called as she started to run after him, somehow not making any progress. "Sorry Digger mousie. You`re waking up now, and you`ll have to go back to the real world. Don`t worry though, Ed will wait for you and will watch over you and your friends for what will come next", Ed`s bittersweet and concerned voice echoed before he entirely vanished.

"Seriously Ed, can you be a bit less vague? What`s coming next? What`s going to happened? Ed!? Ed!", Digger called desperately as she suddenly felt she couldn`t move another step, her vision to blurry to see straight.

As she kept calling out her friend's name, the wombat felt as if someone were now grabbing her by the shoulders and shaking her, making her mind drift elsewhere again. Despite not being at her strongest again, Digger clenched her teeth and tried to fight back against the unseen entity pulling her, not knowing if she was winning or losing the fight this time…


	46. Digger- Part 3

As Digger kept struggling against the unknown force that was shaking her, she thought she heard someone talk to her again, desperate to get through the wombats semi-confused state of mind. "Ed…speak up…I can`t hear you!", she nearly yelled in panic as she tried to raise a hand and swipe it the unknown force away.

Another voice, not Ed`s, was the one to reply to her. "I said stop jumping around and acting like a mad man before I go and put you in a straightjacket!" Right away, Digger stopped resisting and managed to blink open her eyes, taking in her new surroundings.

To her surprise, the wombat saw that she was in a familiar building she`d spent many nights in, though not from the most pleasant of circumstances. It looked like the villages medical hut, where the sick and wounded stayed to get better at the curtesy of the village healer, known by everyone as The Hag (despite the fact that The Hag wasn`t even past her mid-20`s at this point).

As Digger managed to calm down, she looked around and noticed several odd things in and out of the building in great detail.

The first was that the area near the bed as well as a few other spots within The Hags hut looked trashed, as if someone had raided the place in a full blown riot. A bedpan had been thrown across the room, hitting the closest window and causing a huge crack to form on it. The bed Digger had been laying on herself was also a mess, with the sheet partially torn and the bedframe dented back. The nearby desk was knocked over, spilling several contents all across the floor.

The second odd thing was that several of the villagers had gathered near the door, some looking at Digger with concern while others stared at her as if she were truly mad, almost taking a step back in fear as she quickly gazed at them.

The last and most obvious thing Digger realized was that The Hag herself was looming over Digger and holding her in a tight restraining grip, making sure her patient would move as little as possible for the time being.

After being at loss for words for a few moments, Digger managed to ask, "Why are you restraining me?", "Because you were starting to act crazy moments after I fixed you up from that nasty fall you took. And I will keep you restrained for your own good, unless you`re sane enough not to act out again", The Hag replied, showing no nonsense in her voice.

"Don`t worry. I`m sane. It was just…it`s a long story that`s hard to explain exactly", Digger stated, deciding not to mention much up front with the observers listening in. From the way they were starring, a lot of them were already convinced she was crazy without even knowing about her dream experience.

Taking a few moments to think over what the wombat said, The Hag carefully let Digger go but made it clear she would restrain her again if she did something else crazy through her body language. Digger in turn relaxed her muscles and sat still, conveying back that she wasn`t going to do anything else irrational.

As the wombat looked around the mess and damages again, wondering how exactly the place came to be like this, The Hag turned to the onlookers near the doorway and told them to go back to their own business. As she stomped her way over to close the door (all while glancing back to keep an eye on Digger), the crowd dispersed and went back to what they were doing beforehand.

At exactly one moment after slamming the door shut, The Hag faced Digger and crossed her arms, approaching the wombat with a piece of her mind to give.

"Ever since I had taken up the role as the villages healer five years ago, I`ve dealt with many patients and ailments and injuries. But you, my hairy little visitor, seem to be the most memorable of them all, despite being gone from my line of work for a while now".

"After having a hiatus from you, you come back being just as careless as ever to add another avoidable injury to your history here. Were you even watching where you were going near that cliff?", "Hey, I didn`t intend to fall off that cliff side. I was just trying to find this…oddly dressed person who may have been attacking and robbing me. I mean, he stole my pickaxe (though to be fair, I swung it at him)", Digger exclaimed, snarking back.

The wombat then looked at her body and noticed that apart from a few scrapes and bandaged up cuts, there weren`t too many injuries like her last major fall. "By the way, what happened to me after I landed on the ground? Nothing was too damaged?", she asked, lightening up her tone.

Scoffing, The Hag bluntly stated, "Lucky for you, nothing was too physically damaged this time. You mainly dislocated your shoulder (how it didn`t get broken truly is a mystery for the ages given the hard impact it took). However, the way you were acting out in your sleep seems to be the bigger concern if you ask me".

"Acting in my sleep?", Digger asked baffled. "Yes, and seeing that you took note of the mess you made, it`s safe to say you`d agree with me", The Hag replied, bending over to pick up a knocked aside bowl as she gestured to everything else.

After taking some time to imagine how she could have possibly done this, Digger found herself awkwardly asking what happened before she`d woken up.

"When you were brought in here, I immediately got to work relocating your shoulder and cleaning up your cuts. Again, it was lucky for you that those were the only injuries you received from your act of carelessness", The Hag began. Digger almost retorted on the carelessness aspect, but decided to keep her mouth shut and continued to listen for the time being.

"While I was fixing you up again, you didn`t make a sound. But moments after I finished, you started to talk in your sleep like state. Something about a person named "Ed" was the clearest thing I could comprehend. Then, out of nowhere, you start screaming and thrashing violently, like you were partaking in a fight or something. You were grabbing anything near you and throwing it, clawing at me if I tried to get close to you and making so much noise you aroused half the villages attention. How I managed to restrain you without getting myself a cut was quite the feat".

"And let me guess, at that point you tried to shake me awake before I did anything else destructive", Digger said, recalling the feeling she experienced before waking up (while also worrying if the way she acted in her sleep was a sign of more serious psychological issues she`d unknowingly developed).

"No, I wasn`t shaking you. For a few moments, your thrashing and resisting got more erratic; so much so that some of the villagers who came to see what was happening here nearly intervened. I told them to stay back. No need to risk putting someone else in my care", The Hag replied as she put the knocked over bedside desk on its feet again.

"Blood and shale…", Digger could only say in dread. Once she overcame the shock of all her actions, she got off the bed and volunteered to help clean up. She did cause the mess after all, so it was her responsibility to make the medical hut organized again. "Least you could do", The Hag scoffed before handing the wombat a broom.

As Digger swept up the mess on the floor and put everything back where it belonged, The Hag made a note to get a new window and bedsheet in the market later that day (along with some other inventory that was ruined during the wombat's outburst). Once that task was taken care of, The Hag then began to ask Digger some questions in regards to her wellbeing.

Taking a deep breath, Digger told The Hag as much as she could about her real world ordeals after leaving the village the first time, bringing up everything from the cart crash to the long term isolation. When she mentioned some of the injuries she got from the bigger previous fall, The Hag gave Digger a second inspection out of instinct, making sure nothing more serious was overlooked earlier (and thankfully nothing was).

Digger continued talking and eventually reached the dream part of her tale, making her hesitate to bring up all the details (as The Hags threat of putting her in a straightjacket came back to mind). She mentioned in carefully chosen words about seeing an old deceased friend and that she thought something important involving an upcoming event was said to her, but kept everything else to herself.

"Uh huh. So hearing you`re friend say something about the near future was enough to make you act out?", The Hag said, quickly deducting that something was being kept from her. Biting her lip nervously, Digger replied, "Well, to be fair it was a dream. Maybe I didn`t remember every little detail of it".

The Hag shook her head, deciding not to press the topic for the moment, and began to ask the wombat some follow up questions about how she was feeling in her current state of mind. After listening to the clearer and more open responses to those, the healer ultimately came to a conclusion.

"For all the isolation and trauma you went through, it seems you`re holding up quite well by just talking to me. Perhaps if you go out and interact with the villagers for a while, the mental stress that`s still on your mind might eventually ebb away", "That doesn`t sound like a bad idea. I was wondering from time to time how this place was doing while I was away", Digger replied just as she cleaned up the last of the mess.

As the wombat put the broom aside, The Hag temporarily left to grab something from the back, saying that it was something for her patient.

While she waited for The Hag to return, Digger walked up to the cracked window and peered outside. Taking in the distant yet familiar scenery, the wombat tried to comprehend what actually would come next for her here. Given that her past stay in the village and surrounding area had resulted in a lot of odd encounters and near death action, she had a feeling that things would be far from normal all over again.

When The Hag finally came back after what felt like an eternity, Digger got a surprise to see that in one hand she was holding her trusty backpack. "Didn`t even know this was missing on me", Digger said as she took it back and slung it over her shoulder.

"Yeah, I couldn`t examine you entirely with that thing in the way. And speaking of your backpack, I took the liberty of adding a few bandages and a bottle of medical alcohol to it. Considering you`re history here, you`ll be back with some bizarre injury you got under a bizarre circumstance very soon. Figure you can at least handle the little cuts on your own out there", The Hag said, both snarking and showing some mild concern.

Digger thanked The Hag before seeing she was holding a cup in the other hand. "And what`s that?", she asked, prompting The Hag to give said cup to her as well. "A dose of poppy milk. Best you take something to calm your nerves before going outside", The Hag answered, making Digger look reluctant to drink it. "I was addicted to this for a while last time I was here. Are you sure I should…", "Just take one dose. If you start to experience the addiction symptoms, come back to me right away", The Hag interrupted.

Nodding, Digger started drinking and reluctantly enjoyed the soothing taste of the milk. Once she finished, she handed the cup back and headed for the door. "See you around", the wombat called back before exiting the establishment. For a moment, she thought The Hag was replying to her sarcastically, though she didn`t stick around to fully hear it. For now, she had some old places to explore again.

[ _back at the hyena village_ ]

As he stood in the hut surrounded by armed anthro hyenas, Earl looked solely at Boneclaw Mother and tried not to show any signs of fear. Though the elderly animal leader (and by extent the rest of her tribe) behaved calm and passive towards him for the time being, the stress the human was feeling nearly became overwhelming.

 **Earl narrating:** "I`ve been in many tight situations before in my life, but next to my early karma days this was one of the most intense I ever had to face".

"These hyenas thought I`d hurt a member of their tribe, which happened to be the creature who`s pickaxe I took. I knew I didn`t do anything bad to her outside the theft, but I also didn`t see where she went afterwards. She could have ended up in a dangerous situation as a result of our hostile encounter not too long after, and that thought made it hard for me to give an answer that felt entirely truthful".

 **Scene shown:** _The scene pauses to a still of Earl looking around nervously. Following this, a quick recap of Earl and Diggers encounter is shown with Earl taking the pickaxe from the wombat, followed by Digger herself falling off the cliff side._

One of the hyenas near Boneclaw Mother suddenly let out a frustrated growl after seeing Earl stay silent for a full minute. "This human apparently doesn`t want to tell us his side of the story. Probably because he really is guilty and is stalling for time", "No!", Earl managed to yelp as this got several of the hyenas to move in, glowering at him with the possible intent to avenge their tribemate themselves.

Before anything could go wrong, Boneclaw Mother let out an ear splitting whistle that brought the attention back to her.

As the tribe recovered from the unexpected noise, Earl rubbed his ears and found himself telling Grim-Eyes, "I didn`t know someone that old could be so loud", "That`s Boneclaw Mother for you. Powerful, impressionable and at times a pain in the ass, or in this case the ears", Grim-Eyes couldn`t help but reply as she shook off her own mild shock.

"Enough! Bringing out random theories and guesses will not make us know the truth. If he were innocent and we butchered him for dinner, we`d be the one`s truly in the wrong here. Perhaps there is something that will help the man speak more openly?", Boneclaw Mother stated, while also giving Grim-Eyes a brief "glare" for the profanity.

Once she was sure everyone was calmed down enough and had considered her words, Boneclaw Mother looked towards Earl and said, "I`m guessing that you do in fact wish to say something else but can`t? Perhaps the environment or the past is making the task harder than I first anticipated? Maybe I`ve asked too many of the tribe over to witness what you have to say?"

Earl let out a more confident nod, prompting Boneclaw Mother to contemplate the circumstances around her. To everyone's surprise, she then asked everyone besides Earl, her council, Grim-Eyes and two guards to leave. Without saying a word, the hyenas not asked to stay left while the looming guards and Grim-Eyes remained next to Earl.

"Boneclaw Mother, what in the name of She-Is-Fiercer are you doing?", one of the council members asked as she watched her leader approach Earl, holding out a hand to him as if she needed help crossing a street. "Simple Shadebones. My legs have been feeling a bit sore lately and I need someone to help me walk back and forth here a bit. Perhaps this strange man can show me some trust and help out", Boneclaw Mother replied, not taking her "eyes" off Earl as she waited for his reaction.

 **Earl narrating:** "After a shaky start on both my part and the hyenas part, I could clearly tell that the tribe leader was trying to start the interrogation over with a different tactic, almost like a second chance. Despite the fact that the offer made the stakes around me feel higher, if I took into account that the other hyenas were acting more hostile with less members around, the elders small act of trust didn`t make me hesitate to open up that time. I decided then and there to take my chances and just say what I knew".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl looks at Boneclaw Mother a bit uncertainly, debating whether or not to accept the hand at first. He then sees the two guards, Grim-Eyes and the council tense up again, apparently wondering if any violence will come out of this. Earl looks back to Boneclaw Mother, musters up some courage and gently accepts the hand, intending not to let the fear within win out._

Gently, Earl started to walk around with Boneclaw Mother clinging onto one of his arms. At first, he couldn`t help but glance at the other hyenas, wondering if this was a clever distraction to ambush him the moment he looked away. Sensing this, Boneclaw Mother let out a chuckle and said, "Don`t worry, as long as you don`t harm me, you`ll be safe during our walk. As for me, I`m delicate. I won`t even leave a scratch on you".

When Boneclaw Mother said the word "scratch", Grim-Eyes` ears perked up in surprise, as if she recalled something familiar from long ago. Earl noticed this, but decided not to bring up it up at the moment as Boneclaw Mother began talking, making it clear she didn`t want to be interrupted.

"So, why don`t we start off by getting to know each other? Tell me about yourself first", the elder hyena said, masking the interrogation with friendly banter this time.

 **Earl narrating:** "When I first started talking to Boneclaw Mother, I expected myself to give the basic details or answers to any question thrown at me. I wanted to just tell the truth, but I also didn`t want to share too much personal info with a stranger. Yet somehow, Boneclaw Mother managed to impress me again by getting me to open up more than I expected, all with well-timed statements and questions and also without me being the wiser until all was said".

"I basically told the elderly hyena everything about me: Camden (before its destruction), my karma list, some of the deeds I did to make up for everyone I wronged, my friends and family and my encounter with the creature that I took the pickaxe from. When I spoke about all these things, I felt like I was all alone in a familiar environment after a while, actually forgetting that the rest of the hyena council was listening in".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl and Boneclaw Mother walk back and forth around the hut with all the other hyenas not taking their eyes off the duo. During the whole scene, Earl is also shown talking almost non-stop, with Boneclaw Mother saying something here or there to keep the chat going. After the camera flashes to different angles of the hut and the walking duo, the final scene shows the three hyena councilwomen and sole male councilman, looking like they were processing what Earl said about Digger._

"…and that was when that hyena…what`s her name?", "Grim-Eyes, my granddaughter", "Right. That was when Grim-Eyes knocked me out and took me here", Earl concluded as the walk around the hut ended.

The elderly hyena nodded and let go of Earl, thanking him for trusting her. As she headed back to her council, Earl suddenly remembered they were still in the room and listening. He noted that they all didn`t show any sign of believing or disbelieving him, but the ambivalent expressions didn`t make him feel any better about his chances of being in the clear.

Not helping Earls confidence was the fact that Grim-Eyes appeared to look warier from hearing his side of the story, as the unclear fate of the wombat deeply bothered her. The younger hyenas own take on the story was enough to make Earl consider making a risky escape attempt back to the forest, but the two remaining guards came closer and stood behind him, blocking the only clear way to the exit.

"Well, what do you all think? Is he telling us the truth as to what happened when he ran into our adopted tribe member?", the hyena to Boneclaw Mothers right immediately asked. "It is hard to say. Since the wombat isn`t here to tell her side of the story, the man could be honest or lying as to how the encounter between them went, as well as how he got the pickaxe", the only male council member, Owl Caller, replied.

"The man didn`t show any signs of telling a fib throughout the whole discussion. His voice didn`t waver, nor did he backtrack any statements or try to change any uncomfy topic", Boneclaw Mother said, making Earl start to feel hope again. If the leader of the tribe believed what he`d said, then at the very least he`d be in the clear for a while.

To Earls shock, another female councilmember (Shadebones was it?) suddenly stepped towards Earl and said accusingly, "How do we even consider him being truthful? We all heard him mention in the past that he was a notorious criminal in his hometown, and as you all know some criminals can be masters of deceit. Perhaps he did do something terrible to the wombat and managed to skillfully veer her true fate into ambiguity as he neared the end. He could have stabbed her with the pickaxe and cleared all blood and scent before Grim-Eyes found her".

The other two female members besides Boneclaw Mother looked like they suddenly considered Shadebones point. As Boneclaw Mother attempted to counter the claim by pointing out that what was said was only speculation again, Earl found himself glancing towards Grim-Eyes.

The look he gave her seemed to be pleading to be believed. However, Grim-Eyes looked away from him, unsure what to even consider now. There just wasn`t enough clarity for her to take a stance.

Turning back to the council again, Earl managed to get their attention by stating desperately, "I wasn`t lying! Like I said, I sorta attacked the wombat out of self-defense, but I didn`t leave her dead or even injured when I got away from her. My past before finding karma doesn`t factor into that event", "Strange you are, considering your unknown reason for being in that part of the forest in the first place. How is it that you strayed so far away from this…Camden place if you apparently had many wrongs to make right there?", Shadebones asked.

At that statement, Boneclaw Mother paused and looked like she was contemplating that question herself. After all, Earl didn`t say anything about his reason for leaving Camden during the walk.

 **Earl narrating:** "It was pretty obvious that these hyenas didn`t know much about advanced technology; much less what a drone that could freeze someone alive was. Regardless, I decided to tell them the world destruction part of my story as well. Considering how the attack on Possum Springs came after Camden, it was possible that whoever was behind them would strike here eventually".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl is shown thinking about what to say to the hyenas in regards to the earlier attacks. He quickly comes up with the right words this time and immediately begins talking, making urgent gestures and showing a lot of concern as he looks around, wondering how long this place could hold off a drone attack._

During the whole time Earl spoke, all the council hyenas showed different reactions. While Grim-Eyes started to look confused, Boneclaw Mother and Owl Caller began to show some concern. Shadebones and the other two females on the other paw looked like they were hearing the most ridiculous things in their lives and immediately began to challenge Earls story the moment he finished.

"Seriously, you expect us to believe such an insane tale? Metal monsters coming in from the skies and freezing everyone alive before they make your home disappear in a wave of thunder and lightning? How more desperate could your lies get?", Shadebones asked as one of the other females started to giggle, not being able to contain herself.

"I`m not lying about anything. That army took everyone by surprise and basically decimated the whole population in what felt like a matter of minutes. The fact that me, my ex-wife and my friend made it through not one but two attacks without getting frozen was really nothing short of a miracle. If you ask me, you should get ready to defend yourselves when those things come here to get all of you too", Earl retorted, making the giggling hyena laugh even louder while Shadebones and her other apparent ally stared at Earl as if he were deranged (more than they first assumed actually).

"Perhaps there is credibility to the man's claims. Boneclaw Mother, you have spoken of detecting a bad omen recently, have you not?", Owl Caller asked, surprising everyone with his stance. "You believe a random and unconfirmed statement is enough to side with this person?", one of the female hyenas said before Boneclaw Mother could speak.

"We have had many strange things happened to the tribe in the past, some of which started out as rumors and whispers among the naïve and elderly. Boneclaw Mother, I think it would be foolish to fully dismiss the entire statement of an attack, be it from here or from another place of existence", Owl Caller retorted before turning to his leader for support.

"The thought of an attack by an unknown foe is not impossible, as danger has a way of coming up unannounced. The man also doesn`t seem like he`s lying amid his tale", Boneclaw Mother said, earning some ire from the three skeptical council hyenas. "You can`t be serious", Shadebones said in dismay. "Hey, as Owl Caller said, crazy events have happened to the tribe before. Something silly could form into something impactful, for better or worse", Boneclaw Mother replied.

Before anyone could respond, Grim-Eyes suddenly interrupted. "Why are you all going off topic? I thought we were trying to find out what happened to the earth-rat though this human's testimony. It feels like we`re getting nowhere on it, outside of the feeling that she may be still alive. Maybe me and a few of our guards should check the nearby human village for her, since my team's original search of the area wasn`t thorough enough to go there. She could have fled to that sanctuary, as she did in the past".

"Yes, I think you should do what Grim-Eyes suggested. Maybe I can come along and help you all ID her in a crowd or something", Earl said, forgetting about the possibility of another drone attack for the moment in a sense of excitement.

"I don`t think so. Your innocence wasn`t exactly proven. Plus, your questionable credibility with that story about how you got here makes me think you`re not wise enough to be an aid. I suggest the human stays until we have the answer to the wombat's fate", Shadebones said, with her two supporters agreeing right away. Boneclaw Mother and Owl Caller gave Earl a sympathetic look, but nonetheless sided with Shadebones on this one.

Earl looked ready to retort on the latter half of the statement, but Boneclaw Mother interrupted him this time, deciding some action needed to be taken.

"I`ve heard enough for now. Grim-Eyes, your idea to check the human village for our wombat is smart, yet risky, considering we aren't exactly on the friendliest of terms with the inhabitants".

"I think a small group of quick witted and pragmatic scouts would be ideal in inspecting the village and nearby area for the wombat, as the low numbers would indicate that we mean no ill intent to them. Plus, a smaller group would mean better odds of everyone making it out of harm's way should things go south".

"Yes Boneclaw Mother. I`ll go get my spear and…", Grim-Eyes began before her grandmother let out a growl, silencing her. "No Grim-Eyes, you`ll stay here in our village. I can see that your concern for your adopted sister is clouding your judgement. You`d probably come off more intimidating and desperate to others than you intend should things go bleak in your search", Boneclaw Mother said. Grim-Eyes only nodded and did her best to hide her disappointment.

"What about the human? Should we tie him up again until the search party comes back?", one of the female council hyenas asked as she glared at Earl. "There is no need to bind him. He doesn`t intend to show any violence towards us intentionally, yet he will be closely watched by our guards at all times if he wishes to move around freely within our home.", Boneclaw Mother said, gazing at Earl again, as if she were reading his mind.

"Don`t worry. I`m not going to hurt anyone here. Promise", Earl said sincerely, assuring Boneclaw Mothers trust again. "Good. Because if you break your word, I guarantee you won`t live long enough to fully comprehend the regret. I`ll personally see to that", the elder hyena stated, flexing her claws and sending a chill down Earls spine.

And with that, the hearing came to an end for the moment. While Shadebones and the other two female hyenas left the hut to attend to other business around the tribe, Boneclaw Mother went to assemble the search party, telling Grim-Eyes to do a few of her chores around the camp on her way out. "It`ll help clear some of the worry from your head at the very least", the elder promised.

Grim-Eyes glanced at Earl one more time before she left, still unsure what to think of him. Noting this, Earl turned towards Owl Caller and said, "She really is concerned about that wombat, isn`t she?", "She`s been through a lot in life. If you knew the full story, you`d understand", the male hyena replied, prompting Earls curiosity a little.

Suddenly feeling awkward with the two remaining guards still eyeing him intensely, Earl asked what he should do next for the time being. "Stay here or move around the village, but as we`ve agreed, don`t try to walk away for now. I know this is stressful and unfair for you, and so does Boneclaw Mother, but given the circumstances I can`t help but agree the decision is for the best. I`m sure you`ll be out of your problems here in no time", Owl Caller said with some sympathy.

"What about the possibility of another dimension attack? We never really followed up on that during the meeting", Earl found himself blurt out before the village healer could walk out.

Owl Caller paused and looked like he wanted to say something confident, trying not to think of the words Boneclaw Mother mentioned to him earlier about the bad omen. However, he couldn`t find the words to that and only said, "Let us hope that the misfortune of your world doesn`t manage to reach us here. And if it does, that we can all defend ourselves to the bitter end".

And with that, Owl Caller left the hut, leaving Earl nearly alone with his thoughts.

 **Earl narrating:** "At that point, I really felt that I wanted to do something about all my problems as well as everyone else's. Between the wombat, the possibility of another drone attack coming up and trying to figure out where Joy and the rest of my party ended up, there was obviously a lot on my plate. However, it was clear that there was nothing I could do for once. I was just going to have to sit back in a place full of anthro hyenas who weary of my presence and hope karma and chance would make things improve".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl looks around the empty hut and sighs, realizing he is entirely stuck in a powerless situation. He goes outside the hut with the two guards following him closely. As Earl notes his new surroundings, he sees Boneclaw Mother send three spear carrying tribemates out for the mission, followed by Grim-Eyes glancing at him from across the village as she carries a few blood covered arrows to another hut. A few other hyenas nearby also look at Earl, still distrustful of him as he sits on a nearby stump and curls up in a ball, rocking back and forth while trying to keep his calm._

[ _Back at the human's village_ ]

To the wombat, being in the familiar, semi-bustling environment offered a strange yet comforting feeling; one that was nearly identical to the dream with Ed. She was no longer alone, steadily felt less weary and came to find more peace within herself as she moved about.

Of course, in this real life example the world was less foggy and there were more inhabitants walking around. Said inhabitants who were out shopping, working or minding their own business all turned their attention to Digger as she walked by them. Despite the fact she was well known from her past actions here, the rare sight of a wombat was one to behold, especially one who had a long absence and wasn`t expected to ever return.

At first, Digger managed to ignore the odd looks and tidbits of gossip as she window-shopped and occasionally asked a question to a local. However, the annoyance factor soon got to her, making her think snarky thoughts.

 _Gee, just because someone`s been through a lot of stress doesn`t mean that they`re entirely dangerous. I`m in control of myself, even at my worst moments (outside of a few exceptions)_ , the wombat thought bitterly after a person out shopping backed away from her nervously (having witnessed Diggers outburst at the hut earlier).

After walking around the entire settlement once and not finding anything worth buying for the time being (not that she had any currency on her anyway), the wombat pondered what to do next. Perhaps she could go to the hyena village, if she could find it in the forest. Maybe she`d run into an ocular slug or another shadowchild that would help her out (though the real shadowchild that Digger mentored would be a welcoming sight as well).

 _I did somewhat promise Grim-Eyes and Boneclaw Mother that I`d see them again in the future or something, even though it looked unlikely at the time,_ Digger thought as she sat down atop a rock just outside the village, feeling the need to rest for a few minutes. Taking off her backpack, Digger reached in and pulled out a pair of wild apples she`d found yesterday, feeling hungry enough to eat a whole tree.

As she bit into one of the apples and enjoyed the juicy flavor, loud chatter suddenly emerged from the village. "Blood and shale, what`s going on?", Digger asked looking up in surprise. It seemed as though a crowd was gathering to see a huge event taking place near another entrance/exit to the village.

Her curiosity raised, Digger put one of the apples away and slung her backpack back on. As she quickly ate her other apple, she approached the crowd and noticed that someone (or to be more accurate, a whole familiar group of someone) was approaching. "No way. It couldn`t be…I thought…", Digger could only say when she weaved her way to the front of the crowd, seeing another unexpected familiar face she`d thought she`d never see again.

The surprise suddenly turned to a scare when a sword was drawn towards the wombat, knocking the apple from her hand and remaining pointed at her neck. As Digger looked at the sword less than five inches from her with alarm (amid several other panicked reactions from the nearby villagers) an angry voice was heard saying, "So, we get called back here to deal with a possible new threat, and you show up around the same time. Why am I not surprised that my suspicions of you being behind it were just confirmed?"


	47. Digger- Part 4

[ _At another village about a day's walk away from the wombat_ ]

No matter what direction Henre turned to as he ran for his life, it seemed that chaos, destruction and anarchy were right there in front of him.

As he evaded an enemies attack and brushed past a few chunks of debris, hoping that the next corner he turned would have no foes trying to freeze him at the very least, the human with the anthro deer's head looked around and wondered how things became like this so fast.

An hour ago, the village he resided in was peaceful as it usually was. Merchants were selling food, children were out playing and the wilderness guide group that Henre worked for was debating who was the best guide for a client that wanted someone to escort him to the next settlement. It was just as average as a day could get.

While Henre was in his home getting something to eat, cursing in frustration about being turned down first for the guide assignment (with him also wishing that snake oil salesman who`d sold the cursed supplement were here so he could strangle him (as having a deer head from consuming the product really hurt his credibility to some)), he thought he heard an odd noise in the distance.

Before he could place said noise (thinking he`d heard something similar during one of his pre-deer head expedition days), Henre noticed several locals were suddenly running by his door in a panic, having witnessed something horrifying. One of the fleeing villagers, a middle aged woman, tripped and fell to the ground, prompting Henre to rush outside and help her get back up.

The moment Henre exited his house, he offered his hand to the woman while looking around, picking up the apprehensive tone in the air alongside the fact that the odd noise was much louder. "What`s going on? Why is everyone in a panic?", he asked the woman as he helped her back on her feet. Before the woman could say a word, a sudden blast of ice hit and encased her. Henre barely processed what he witnessed before the woman then levitated into the sky and vanished.

As Henre found himself looking up towards the last spot he`d seen the woman, partially thinking that he`d fallen asleep and was just in the middle of a nightmare, he heard loud shouting ahead of him and glanced forward, witnessing what looked like a huge fight between the villages guards and these weird metallic foes at one of the entrances. It appeared that the foes (who were making the strange noise) were making fast work of the guards, as all of them were frozen and gone in the span of a minute.

Once the last guard disappeared in a similar fashion as the woman did, the metallic foes began to fully advance forward, intending to hunt down and freeze every single inhabitant in the area. At this, Henre started to run away alongside everyone else left, not wanting to find out where he would go if he too got encased in ice.

As Henre continued to move past the surrounding attacks, trying to guess which directions would safely take him out of the village and into the nearby forest where he could hide, he found himself backtracking and making wild turns to avoid getting hit more times than he could count. To him, it seemed that every moment he thought he`d discovered a clear route to potential safety, the way was quickly blocked by a metallic foe firing wildly, hindering his efforts and keeping him in harm's way.

Now, after a few more failed attempts to run out of the village, Henre urgently looked around at the next corner he turned and spotted potential cover behind an overturned fruit cart. Feeling his legs ache, he quickly ducked behind it and curled up, hoping that all the foes would move on and overlook him as he caught his breathe.

For a few minutes, it seemed like his plan to wait out the enemy was working as a lot of the metallic foes started moving out of the village, apparently finding nobody left to freeze.

Just as he let his guard down, completely convinced that his backup plan worked, an ominous shadow appeared from behind Henre, knocking the fruit cart that stood between it and the odd headed man away effortlessly.

Feeling he was trapped and had no other choice but to fight back (despite also knowing the odds were against him), Henre stood up and turned around, finding himself facing what looked like _an alligator/a fox_ with weird attire and equally weird head armor alongside a gun-like weapon in hand. As he quickly noted several other details about his foe (especially the soulless eyes) in his momentarily caught off guard state, the _alligator formerly known as Bea/the fox formerly known as Gregg_ raised _her/his_ freeze gun at Henre, giving an impression _she/he_ was going for a kill.

Snapping out of his distraction and gathering up all his recovered might, Henre attempted to counter the attack, throwing the hardest punch he could muster at his foes head while simultaneously reaching for the weapon with his other hand. 

To Henres surprise however, _the alligator/the fox_ managed to deflect both hands and delivered a hard kick to the chest within the span of a second and with apparently no effort. Henre then found himself fly across the air and crashed into the wall of the nearest building, leaving a dent on it as he slid to the ground dazed. Before the last inhabitant of the ruined village could even start to recover, one callus blast from the New Alpha Drones freeze pistol encased him and sent him up into the sky.

The New Alpha Drone waited until Henre disappeared before moving on again, feeling happy that this attack was carried out smoothly as all the other ones in this world. _Bea/Gregg_ then snapped _her/his_ fingers and curtly gestured a pair of nearby drones to come over and carry _her/him_ to the final location of the world: the place where the dimension eraser would be planted.

Before the two drones lifted their leader up and rocketed away with their metallic comrades, The Alpha Drone did a quick check up on the other squads of drones in this dimension and in the others, focusing strongly on the one that was bringing the world ending device over to the designated location.

After receiving information that the squad of drones carrying the dimension eraser for this world were doing fine, having encountered no opposition up to this point, _Bea/Gregg_ relaxed a bit and let _herself/himself_ get lifted upward, rocketing off to the final village while eager to see how chaotic the last attack there would turn out.

[ _At the other village where Digger is_ ]

As the anthro wombat looked towards the sword being pointed at her, wondering if anyone in the crowd would snap out of their bystander effect and come to her aid (due to her quickly calculating it`d be too much of a risk to move without potentially provoking her aggressor, meaning she was stuck where she was), the angry voice that belonged to the sword holder continued to speak.

"You thought I forgot all the troubles you caused me and The Veiled the last time we were here? When you lead that hyena towards me in an ambush? When you befriended that dangerous shadow creature and let it skulk around, possibly to eat the souls of the innocent? When you kept weaseling your way out of an arrest for all your misdeeds, even turning one of our own against us? Considering how much time has passed along with your escalating troublemaking, you`ve probably done something even worse than before. Something so terrible, me and my order have to deal with it. Guess some people, or in this case wombats, never change for the better".

At this point, Digger managed to muster enough courage and looked up at the sword holder. She found herself starring into the sole remaining eye of Captain Jhalm, leader of an order known as The Veiled; an order that the wombat herself had a unique and complicated history with (and that was putting it nicely from Diggers perspective, as Jhalm would have used harsher words from his point of view).

As Digger noted that the other nearby Veiled members had their own swords drawn, in case she decided to attack one of them in a fit of violent rage, time seemed to slow down as she made some observations.

From what Digger could recall, Jhalm and his order looked like they barely changed since she last saw them.

Like the men he commanded, Jhalm wore a black robe with a black cloth that covered his mouth. He also had a completely shaved head, sans a tight pony tail in the rear, that reflected the hairstyle of all his group members.

Unlike the other Veiled though, Jhalm had a thick brown eye patch covered the spot where his left eye once was, having received it from fighting two cold servants (tough foes who had served Sweetgrass Voice). He also had thick eyebrows that mainly conveyed his emotions (currently showing contempt, which was common with Digger in his presence).

Once she finished making observations on the Veiled leader and most of his men, Digger found her gaze shift back to the young woman that she spotted earlier before the sword had been drawn. The female Veiled member immediately made direct eye contact with Digger, looking surprised to see someone she personally knew from back then while apparently going through some inner distress.

The woman who knew Digger was named Murai; the youngest Veiled member who had aided the wombat in the past and had been good friends with her throughout most of the adventure they shared, going into danger side by side for the greater good. From the moment Digger had saved Murai`s life during a raid to the end of the adventure when Murai defended Digger from an unfair arrest, the odd friendship with the duo held up until the inevitable goodbye.

It now looked as if Murai wanted to continue on the positive note the duo had left off on by coming to her friend's aid, but something within her mind was holding her back and keeping her from intervening right away, finally over welling her at the worst possible time.

Specifically, Murai sounded as if she had started to say something repeatedly in an OCD like state, trying to shake off a set of bad thoughts as she nearly fell to her knees in panic. The evil Goddess Murai encountered in the past that traumatized her. That must be it, Digger thought, realizing the murmurs the young human said aloud as she tried to make the lingering remnants of the evil being pass by.

"What do you have to say for yourself now, you scoundrel? Care to confess the misdeeds you`ve done in my absence? Or am I going to have to take more creative measures to get you to speak?", Jhalm stated, drawing Diggers attention back to The Veiled`s captain while two of the closest members next to Murai bent down to comfort the poor, panicked woman.

Fully realizing she was on her own for the scenario, Digger started to snark back at Jhalm, hoping her mind was still fast at retort like it was before the cart crash incident and the isolation that followed (the moments at The Hags hut didn`t count in her point of view, as that situation was minimal compared to this).

"Yes Captain Jhalm, I do have a lot of misdeeds I`d want to say out loud. For example, you threatening me in front of all these witnesses? With absolutely no proof of me connected to the big alleged problem outside gut feeling? You may be leader of The Veiled, but I doubt clinging onto a past petty grudge to solve the mystery threat will give everyone confidence. Plus, I thought I apologized for the "misdeeds" I`ve done before (or resolved them some other way)", Digger said, gesturing to the crowd and the sword.

For a moment, Jhalm looked caught off guard, as if he fully realized the absurdity of his actions. However, his stubbornness took over and he gripped his sword tighter, telling the wombat, "You were still a menace to me back then. And I know keeping you around will cause more misery at my expense. I might lose my other eye or another limb from your actions eventually, one way or another", "Hey, I`m not one for causing the loss of body parts. After all, it looks like you`re already losing your head on your own already", Digger retorted, not being able to resist giving off a smug smile for a second.

At this point, the onlookers muttered various opinions to one another immediately, all while continuing to stay back and watch the action from their safe distance.

From what the wombat and Veiled managed to pick up, some of the whispers were supportive towards Digger, complimenting the wit and bravery that was displayed by her in the face of danger.

Others were in favor of the Veiled, as some villagers knew them a lot better than the wombat, thus siding with the known over the unknown (along with a few of those villagers remembering the xenophobic feelings they had for Digger during her first time here).

And then there was the majority opinion holders, who seemed to have trouble deciding who to root for. Digger was mainly harmless and had been rumored to help them out before, along with the fact that she was being held at sword point. But The Veiled were strong and usually well-meaning allies (and not the type to be on their bad side, as Jhalm was demonstrating right now).

Hearing the strongly divisive opinions made Digger suddenly feel caught off guard, as she expected to get more support right away. Not helping her now wavering confidence was that Jhalm`s gaze shifted from angry to ambiguous, thus making it hard for the wombat to determine what he would do next. After all, the man had acted out in the heat of the moment before, and it looked like he was about to do something like that again from the many comments he was gathering.

As she looked at the sword twitch a bit in his hand, jittering slightly back and forth between the wombat and the scabbard on Jhalms hip, Digger silently pleaded that he would just put it away and not run it through her (while trying and failing to get herself to move back, with her legs not responding despite the higher urgency this time). She had been stabbed before in the past during an attack here, and that was an experience she wasn`t eager to relive.

Part of Digger wanted to continue talking, saying something wittier to top her first statement (like "didn`t your mother teach you not to wave sharp objects around?", "No need to start poking the wombat", "Blood and shale", blah blah blah blah blah), yet another part told her to be quiet since any more snark would guarantee a Jhalm attack.

Before Jhalm could make up his mind and carry out his next action, a shout above the chatter and close by got his attention, taking his mind off the wombat for the moment.

Murai, who managed to snap out of her temporary madness, stood straight up again with the help the two other Veiled members and approached her captain; a desperate pleading look in her eyes.

"( _Black Mother, pass us by_ )…Captain Jhalm, please don`t carry out this act of hostility. The wombat looks as though she only came up to greet us. She`s doing no wrong", Murai said after taking a second to let one last bit of negativity pass her by. "Murai, stay out of this. I know what I`m doing. There`s no need to have you intervene in every major decision I make", Jhalm replied, sounding slightly lost this time.

As Digger thanked her lucky stars that Murai was finally able to step up and help, the wombats friend and Jhalm started to go back and forth on an argument, though "argument" didn`t seem to be the right word to describe things. Basically, Murai would say something to Jhalm in Diggers defense (managing to make a bigger impact than Digger did with her words), Jhalm would try to defend his opinions and/or actions in a weak statement and Murai would easily counter that and continue to defend her friend.

In less than a minute, it became clear who the winner of the debate would be, as the other Veiled members put their swords away and watched Murai steadily talk Jhalm out of whatever he would do to Digger, all while the wombat herself tuned into the banter fully engaged. From what she could pick up, it seemed as if this sort of thing between the two humans had happened before more than once.

As Jhalm finally put away his sword away at Murai`s insistence, calmer in demeanor, Murai approached Digger and held out a hand. "Murai, nice to see you. How`s it been with the Veiled?", Digger couldn`t help but ask as she shook it. To her surprise, Murai held her grip on the wombat's hand and began to gently pull Digger away from the crowd, whispering loudly to her, "No reason to speak here honored Digger. Too many listeners. We shall catch up somewhere private".

Baffled, Digger looked around and suddenly realized Murai`s point. All the people still watching her, as well as Jhalm and some of the other wary Veiled members, made her feel uneasy (like a young inexperienced actor in front of a large crowd). Perhaps catching up with an old friend alone was for the better.

As the duo headed for the nearby forest, they heard Jhalm start to give out orders to his men while the villagers dispersed, prompting the Veiled to move towards various points of the settlement and other sections of the forest for guard duty and patrols.

Hearing all the orders made Digger suddenly feel concern about her friend leaving to be alone with her. "Murai, are you sure going away your group behind is good idea right now? What if Jhalm and everyone else needed you for a task, and you weren't there to help?"

Murai showed no concern of her own, replying, "But I am doing an important duty for my orders sake. I`m keeping you preoccupied and away from Jhalm, so he can get his men organized without any more issues that you`d "end up intentionally causing"", "Huh, good point there", Digger found herself admitting, glad to be far away from any swords at the moment.

As the two reunited friends walked into the trees with Murai in the lead and no longer holding the wombats hand, Digger briefly looking around for the strange person, wondering if he`d make another appearance with her stolen pickaxe. "If he shows up again, I`ll be ready for him", she mumbled to herself, feeling that she wouldn`t let herself get caught off guard again any time soon.

After getting a concerned look from Murai, Digger quickly told her it was nothing and swallowed her contempt. She`d deal with the creature and her missing pickaxe on her own when the time came. Murai didn`t need to get involved unless it was completely necessary.

As she and the human continued walking through the forest, Digger tried to take her mind off some issues and attempted to start a conversation, asking if the Veiled had done anything interesting in the past few years. Murai began talking right away, and Digger fully immersed herself in the stories, happy to focus on something more positive for the near future.

Little did the two females know that danger (in the form of a war hungry _alligator/fox_ alongside a metallic army) was closing in fast in the direction they were headed.


	48. Digger- Part 5

As the three spear carrying hyenas made their way through the forest without making a sound, they tried to pick up the familiar scent of a wombat, hoping they would somehow locate their adoptive tribe member out here before they reached the human settlement.

After Boneclaw Mother had tasked all of them to go and inspect the aforementioned area for Mother of Little Earthquakes, the female trio were determined to fulfill their duty to their leader. However, as they left their home they also began to feel mildly uneasy about going to the neighboring settlement.

Alongside the fact that the hyenas didn`t really like humans, they had memories of previous encounters with the inhabitants of the village, and a majority of them weren`t positive (with the battle that nearly erupted between the tribe and the Veiled years ago still being talked about among the gossiping elders). They all knew that if things became hostile at their destination again, they would put their agility and speed to good use and escape back home, hopefully with reinforcements if they managed to spot proof that the wombat was there.

When the trio were four miles from their destination, still wondering what to expect up ahead, they all stopped upon heard an odd noise; one that gave a humming tone that was never heard by any of them in their whole lives, and was coming in their direction.

Not wanting to face a possible unknown threat head on, one of the hyenas made a few quick gestures, signaling to her companions that they should hide and see what the odd noise source was.

Without hesitating, the other two hyenas approached a nearby bush to concealed themselves while their co-hunter scaled the tree next closest her for a vantage point. Within the span of five seconds, all the hyenas were completely hidden and ready to attack or wait out whatever was approaching.

To the trio's shock and surprise, what came into view moments later was a dozen strange creatures crafted entirely out of metal and floating slightly above the ground. They were all moving close together and guarding something that four of their own were carrying. Said thing that was being carried was quickly identified as the source of the humming, though the hyena in the trees (who had the best view of the mystery object) still had a hard time coming up with a concrete description when taking in the details.

Getting the impression that the metal things were not friendly, the three hyenas kept hidden until all the odd creatures passed by. Once they were out of sight, the hunters emerged from their cover looking baffled. "What in the name of She-Is-Fiercer were those things? I`ve seen many odd creatures in these woods before, but this is something else entirely. It`s like none of them had a soul even", one of the hyenas said, still trying to process the metal being's designs.

Looking in the direction the metal beings went, a look of worry came on another hyenas face. "Whatever those things were, it looked like they were heading for the human village. Best we tail them and see what they`re up to. Things could get dangerous fast", she said, with her companions agreeing and clenching their spears.

The three hyenas immediately moved forward again, more alert now than ever before.

It didn`t take long for the trio to catch up to the creatures, and once the hunters spotted them they followed silently from cover to cover, observing their every move.

As the hyenas waited to see what would happen when the metal things reached the village, they all slowly developed a gut feeling that things were about to go to war pretty fast.

[ _In another part of the forest, not too far away from the hyenas and drones_ ]

"I don`t mean to interrupt your thoughts or anything, but you`ve been quiet for a long time. You`re still not scared of what happened back at the village, are you Digger?", Murai asked, snapping the wombat out of her own thoughts and back to the real world.

"No. Of course not. We already discussed how I`ve moved on from that moment. I was just thinking about a few other things I`ve heard recently", Digger replied as she looked around again, getting a nagging feeling that something dreaded was not too far away.

Since she`d returned to the forest to stay out of Captain Jhalms way for now, Digger had continually chatted with her human companion for the majority of their stroll. They mainly discussed what happened between them since they`d last seen each another, and from the wombat's perspective Murai`s stories of her and the work of the Veiled had been rather interesting.

During the time period in which the two friends were absent from one another, Murai had been trying her best to be of aid to the Veiled, not wanting to be seen as a charity case or a liability that hung around with them despite her mental trauma.

She`d learned a bit about medical work after her injured arm had healed (having received the injury from a fall on the last major quest here), which came in handy whenever a member of her group got injured and needed treatment, whether it be a small cold or a deep stab wound.

What really got Diggers attention was the follow up discussion regarding Murai`s promise about Jhalm. After he`d displayed a series of anger induced actions and nearly hurt Murai in one of them to have his way, the then late teen had sworn in the temple of Ganesh that she`d keep an eye on her leader and help him stay on the right path of decision making, seeing him as a man who needed help as much as she did.

"There were a few instances where he seemed to give into his anger and irrationality in the heat of the moment. I always managed to step in and talk him out of doing anything he`d later regret every time", Murai had explained.

"I`m guessing what happened with me and him back there was another example of him acting out and you stepping in the save the day at the nick of time?", Digger responded. "Afraid so. Seeing you probably triggered some deep resentment he put away when we first left here", "I just hope he doesn`t have any other deep resentments that`ll resurface and erupt at any moment. That`d be a horrifying sight to behold if you failed to stop him for once", Digger half-snarked in reply, finding herself rubbing the area Jhalms sword had been pointed at earlier.

When Murai had finished talking about something and had no idea what to bring up next, Digger would try to keep the conversation going by bring up her own experiences she`d went through, using careful wording as to avoid mentioning the stress she got from being alone for so long, as she didn`t want to make Murai worry too much about her.

What the wombat mainly talked about was some of the odd sights she saw (like a rock that looked like a fox with a hat) as well as the more pleasant things she`d found and ate, managing to get a good meal here and there.

She brought up an instance where she nearly lost Ed`s necklace in an anthill, clutching it tightly as she spoke about how she frantically dug to recover it. Digger also mentioned an instance where she built and maintained a roaring fire amid a heavy downpour for a full night, having managed to keep herself exhausted yet warm and even dry for most of that time.

"It sounds like you went through quite a lot out there. How you managed to battle the elements and harsh nature truly is an achievement, let alone the frightening encounter", Murai said after Digger finished talking about how she lost her pickaxe earlier today (minimalizing the part where she stayed at the Hags while also leaving out the dream about Ed, as she wanted to process what he`d said at the end some more before sharing it, else risk sounding a tad kooky).

It was the thought about Ed`s haunting last words that made Digger stop talking for a while to personally process them, trying to detect a clearer idea or a hidden meaning that was somehow in the sentence. Something kept telling her that "what would come next" wasn`t good and she didn`t want that to unexpected catch her off guard at the worst possible time out of ignorance.

Murai had noticed her friends pondering and decided to let the wombat keep to herself for a while, as the negative thoughts started to linger in her own head for a few moments, forcing her to focus on making them pass by again.

Now, at the current moment when Murai recovered and talked to her friend again (feeling the silence had gone on long enough), the wombat still had no clue what to make of Ed`s message. Seeing Murai look at her a bit worriedly made Digger decide to restart the conversation at that moment for the sake of both of them, as the stress was getting to her as well.

"So…why did the Veiled come back here? I think Jhalm mentioned that I was a reason behind it, though I can`t figure out how that`s possible", "Oh, I can`t believe I didn`t say this sooner. The reason why we came back to the village was because we got a message from a shadow creature. It was the same shadowy creature… the shadow child as it was called… that accompanied us on our journey", Murai explained, catching Digger completely by surprise.

The last thing the wombat expected to hear Murai say was the name of the creature who`d helped her before in the past and vice versa. The creature who Digger had tried to teach morality to, having to deal with many difficult moments in explaining the concept clearly. The creature who`d grown up (literally and figuratively) after the defeat of Sweetgrass Voice, having promised to teach more of her kind what the wombat had said to her. The creature Digger still missed in a similar fashion to a parent who`s kid had left home to live life on their own.

Right away, the wombat found her mouth go a mile a minute as she asked many questions about how the now grown up shadow child was doing, wanting to know every little detail. It took a loud, ear splitting whistle from Murai to quiet her down.

"Settle down honored Digger. I am more than happy to tell you everything at a reasonable pace", the human said reassuringly, waiting for the wombat to calm down. Once she did, Murai began talking.

"The encounter between the two of us happened at this abandoned settlement me and the other Veiled were searching. We`d been previously tipped off by some travelers that these notorious fugitive bandits were hiding out in the area, and Jhalm (who recognized the names of said bandits from long ago) was determined to bring them to justice one way or another".

"As we combed the empty buildings, me and two of my friends stumbled upon what looked like a class of identical looking shadow children, all of whom were being taught by the one we were familiar with".

"Wait, the shadow child was teaching her own kind? What did she say exactly?", Digger asked, trying to recall her own teachings she`d said to the shadow child, hoping something that was possibly misunderstood wasn`t being taught to many potentially dangerous and open to interpretation creatures.

"From what I managed to understand amid all the murmuring, it appeared that the shadow child was teaching other shadow children the difference between good and evil and why being good is the right way to live. When the other Veiled came over, they were just as surprised as I was with what they were seeing. Of course, when Jhalm also joined the observing crowd moments later (having found the fugitives dead in the nearby field) he almost leaped into the building with his sword drawn, determined to slay every "evil" creature with his own hands".

A look of worry immediately came on Diggers face. "Jhalm…he didn`t hurt the shadow child or anyone else, did he?", "There is no need to worry about that Digger. Some of the men held Jhalm back before any serious harm could be done to anyone. The shadow child we know then came up to us and recognized me from the watching crowd, cancelling her own plans to attack. That moment was awkward to say the least once all the madness in the air faded", Murai said.

After taking a moment, the human continued. "I don`t recall every word that was said between me and the shadow child then and there, but we both had a friendly chat like you and I are having right now. We shared stories and experiences while my fellow Veiled and her students stayed apart from one another, not intending to cause an unexpected fuss".

"Just as I was finished talking and planning to leave with my fellow Veiled, the shadow child ended up mentioning a message she`d been hearing in the darkest places of existence, flying around in more than one realm of reality. One that got Jhalm`s attention when the village was mentioned".

"Well, what was the message?", Digger asked as she stopped walking, her curiosity completely peeked. Maybe the shadow child's message and Ed`s ominous final words were connected somehow as to what was coming next (it was a stretch from a perspective, but still possible).

Stopping as well, Murai looked back to Digger and said, "It was hard for me or any of my fellow members to fully comprehend the meaning, as the shadow child only said what she could understand herself. She basically told us that a great evil affecting more than one world would strike this plain of existence, and that the village not so far away from us is potentially at the center of it".

"I personally asked the Shadowchild if there were any other details, anything more helpful we could use to identify the source of evil, and she said just shrugged and said that was all she knew. She then left with her students, wishing me and the Veiled luck towards whatever we had to face".

"Of course, another vague hint of danger. Figures", Digger muttered as she face palmed herself. Why couldn`t any prophecy or omen be more straightforward these days? There was already enough conflict going on without having to worry about the confusing warnings.

"There is no need to give into fret honored Digger. We all struggle to grasp the meaning of things in life, and some answers ultimately come one way or another. Like you though, I hope we don`t find things out the hard way on this. Facing an evil from many worlds is truly fearful to the mind alone", Murai replied.

Letting out a deep exhale and a small nod, Digger thanked Murai for her support before looking around the area she was in again, suddenly detecting the uneasy feeling of danger once more. At this point, her instincts were basically screaming to her that it`d be best to leave for anywhere else that wasn`t here.

Deciding to take caution and heed the out of nowhere warning, Digger asked Murai if it was safe to return to the village at this point, where they`d at least have the numbers to fight back against any evil that possibly came.

"I don`t know if that`s the best idea for now. The incident with Jhalm is probably still in the center of everyone's minds, and I`m sure you wouldn`t feel peaceful, collected and focused with the gossip taking place everywhere you walk", Murai replied, looking around a bit apprehensively herself as she spoke, as if she`d picked up Diggers sudden uneasy vibes.

"Well, how about we pay a visit to the hyena village instead? If I`m not mistaken, I`m still welcome as an honorary member, and I`m sure Boneclaw Mother and Grim-Eyes would be happy to see you too", Digger suggested, remembering her earlier idea.

"I don`t know if that`d be the best for my well-being. While the hyena's leader and her granddaughter have worked openly and willingly with me before, I fear how the rest of the tribe will react when they see me. I was an aid to them then, but that viewpoint may have changed in a negative way with all the time that has passed", Murai stated.

"Don`t worry about any hostility. I`ll put in a good word for you. At the very least, Boneclaw Mother will listen and have her clan stand down", Digger replied before looking around, trying to spot any familiar landmarks that would help her remember the way to the hyena's home.

Before Digger and Murai could take another step in any direction, they suddenly heard the same odd noise the three hyenas did earlier and paused, starring at one another in confusion.

"What the heck is that?", Digger found herself asking as Murai starred at the direction of the sound nearly transfixed, seeing it was coming from some nearby thick bushes.

Then, before the duo could do or say anything else, more than one thing emerged from the nearby bushes and nearly caught the duo by surprise, literally.

[ _Several yards away from Digger and Murai, a few moments ago_ ]

From the moment the three hyenas started to follow the odd metal beings, they remained out of sight with their stealth advantage and observed their potential foes every move. The trio were yearning for a perfect opportunity to attack as well, getting the growing urge to do so with each quiet step they took closer to the human settlement.

Out of nowhere, all the metal beings stopped right in front of some thick bushes to observe something, with the spying trio behind them also halting a split second later. As her two fellow hunters stayed back, one of the hyenas moved forward to the next closest cover and slightly peered out for a closer observation; her ears perking up when she detected a conversation taking place between her and the drones.

When the hyena glanced back to her companions, they both nonverbally asked what it was she heard, seeing the look of shock that developed on their friends face the second she identified a voice. Looking at her two co-hunters urgently, the first hyena mouthed the words, "Mother of Little Earthquakes".

Less than a second after the name was said, most of the metal things crashed through the bushes in front of them and began to fire what looked like balls of ice and electricity at the wombat and whoever was talking to her.

The sound of their honorary tribe member screaming in panic prompted the hyena trio to immediately dash out of cover to attack, with their spears raised and their instinct to kill active. Nobody would hurt someone in their social circle and get away with it.

[ _Back to the wombats perspective_ ]

The moment the attackers emerged from cover and began to fire, Digger and Murai let out a surprised scream of panic and dodged all the shots being taken at them, with some of the attacks missing by mere inches.

Murai fell to the ground and rolled to evade a few icy blasts targeting her. After the last shot fired at her missed, the Veiled member then managed to partially sit up and started scooting away from the foes, murmuring something to herself in a panic while watching some of the enemies slowly advance towards her.

Close by, Digger sidestepped and avoided a few more attacks aimed at her. As she did, the wombat attempted to identify who the enemies were exactly with some undertone fascination (Hey, she was a wombat, and in this dimension wombats found the concept of manufactured devices to be quite intriguing, even in the moments of danger).

"Murai, these things aren't creatures of flesh and blood! They`re like living machines found in those fantasy stories for kids!", Digger shouted upon seeing the obvious details clearly for the first time. "That`s probably a bad thing for us then", Murai replied as she managed to stand up and sidestep another attack, returning to her more stoic nature as she did.

Before Digger could instinctively mention some ideas she would have added to the killer machines for greater effectiveness, she noticed more movement from behind the group of attackers, spotting what looked like a fight taking place.

After dodging some more attacks, the wombat got a better look at what was going on and nearly felt her jaw drop in surprise. What she spotted were three hyenas attacking four drones near an odd device; battling aggressively and not slowing down despite all the cuts and bruises they already developed.

Though she wasn`t completely sure, something also told Digger that these hyenas were from the same tribe as Boneclaw Mother and Grim-Eyes, meaning that she`d probably get help from her really extended family.

After seeing the hyenas basically beat all their foes, the wombat shouted for the trio while taking a moment to check on Murai (who was looking around for anything to use as a makeshift weapon now). Without a word, all three hyenas rushed towards the real fight, eager to get their honorary member out of harm's way and put some more attackers down for the thrill of it.

Out of nowhere, one of the drones that was firing balls of ice at Murai turned around and shot at the hyena trio. The one in the center of the charging group raised her spear, feeling she would be able to deflect the unknown attack.

To her shock, most of the blast flew by the hyena's spear. So rather than deflecting like a baseball to a bat, the ice ball went above or below the thin area that wasn`t blocked and hit the hyena warrior twice, completely encasing her in ice.

As the now frozen hyena started to levitate upward, her two mystified co-hunters managed to rush over and grab her by the feet, attempting to hold her down while fighting off any foe that fired at them or started to approach.

"Mother of Little Earthquakes, get over here and help! Don`t just stand there!", one of the remaining hyenas shouted as she quickly started to become overwhelmed, prompting Digger to snap out of her own stunned state (caused by what she saw happened to the attacked hyena) and rush in, despite being more fearful of what these metal things were actually capable of doing.

As Digger zigzagged and dodged her way over, she spotted the spear the frozen hyena had been carrying nearby (as the hyena had dropped it before she was completely encased, causing it to roll away).

Using some quick reflexes, Digger picked up the spear and hit the closest foe with all her might, sending it back for a few critical moments. Feeling a sense of confidence, the wombat then joined in the counter attack and hit any drone she could, causing some damage and feeling excited that she could finally fight back.

For several moments amid her battle cries ("Remember Tunnel 17!"), Digger truly felt like an invincible warrior, with one of the two remaining hyenas giving her a look of pride for a split second as she and her remaining co-hunter started to bring their frozen tribemate down.

Murai, who managed to hold one of the drones back on her own, also gave an impressed look towards her friend for a moment before shifting her full attention back to defending herself.

Unfortunately, the wombat's optimism of being untouchable shifted back to reality when an electric drone managed to come up from behind her to deliver a sneak attack, curtesy of an electric blast from its arm.

It wasn`t until the last second that Digger noticed the attack, and as she swung the spear to counter it she hoped her reaction wasn`t too little, too late (as that moment looked like her defense attempt could fail or succeed for her).

 **Prompt: Square button**

 **Pressed in time:** _Thankfully though, Digger managed to block the attack by hitting the drones firing arm and causing it to shift towards the sky, sending a ball of electricity harmlessly into the air. Taking advantage of her foes brief vulnerable state, Digger then swung the spear again and put a real dent on the electric drone, though her weapon split in half as a result._

 _As she looked at what was left of the spear in panic, realizing she now had nothing to fight with in the center of the battle, the wombat suddenly heard a panicked scream behind her._

 **Failed to press:** _Unfortunately, the wombat was a second too late to deflect the drones attack, as the drone managed to fire an electric blast that hit her and sent her through the air, crashing into a nearby tree._

 _As Digger quickly got up, trying her best to ignore the brief throbbing pain that seemed to be everywhere, she thought she heard Murai call out and ask if she were okay above all the noise. "Nothing's broken…except for my weapon!", Digger answered as she noticed her broken spear close by, having fractured from the attack. Before she could figure out how to continue the battle without a weapon, she heard a panicked scream close by._ **(Digger: -10% health)**

While Digger kept her guard up towards her surroundings, avoiding any more surprise attacks, she realized that the scream came from one of the non-frozen hyenas.

Apparently, two of the carrier drones that the warrior trio thought they`d defeated managed to come back into function again, immediately rejoining the battle to strike their unaware foes from behind.

One of the carrier drones managed to hit one of the remaining hyenas strongly in the back. As a consequence, the struck hyena fell to her knees and let go of her frozen co-hunter, sending her out of reach where she disappeared.

The remaining uninjured hyena then found herself battling two foes from behind her and two in front of her, all while her stunned co-hunter fought to get back on her feet again, feeling so much excruciating pain she nearby passed out.

As Digger quickly rushed to aid the last hyena standing, hoping luck was still on her side here, Murai found herself facing only one drone about fifteen feet away (with the other metal foes turning their attention to everyone but her).

Managing to evade more shots fired at her, the young Veiled member continued to look around and conveniently spotted a heavy stick in a nearby shrub. As Murai grabbed it and began to feel more empowered herself, knowing her past sword combat experiences would come to her aid, a sudden and familiar set of dark thoughts brought on by the evil god came back to her.

"No. Not now. Not now", Murai exclaimed as she started to see the unspeakable evil visions again while trying to keep her sole foe at bay, desperate to get out of this train of thought stronger than ever before.

 **Prompt: X button, Circle button, X button, Square button**

 **Pressed in time:** _Murai starts to mutter her typical coping mantra as she evades each attack and strikes back_ _(_ _"Black Mother, pass us by, turn your head away from us, we are not here, we are not here, pass us by..."). After delivering the final blow, destroying her enemy permanently, Murai then falls to her knees and continues to talk to herself for a few moments before shaking off the evil thoughts, though that doesn`t help her look any less scared._

 **Failed to press:** _If Murai fails at one of the QTE`s, she will be shown being thrown back and landing on the ground hard, all while continuing to mutter her typical coping mantra. Before the drone can do anything else to hurt Murai, Digger throws a rock at it from off screen and yells at the foe to pick on someone else, convincing it to leave the Veiled member where she is. Murai waits till the foe is officially gone (where it gets destroyed off screen as well) and continues to_ _talk to herself for a few moments before shaking off the evil thoughts, though that doesn`t help her look any less scared._ **(Murai: -5% health)**

While Murai starred into space for another extra moment, trying to get everything in her mind back in order, Digger and the last hyena standing continued to fight, barely staying on top of things as three attacks were thrown at them every second.

One of the carrier drones suddenly stooped low and grabbed Digger by the legs, flipping her and making her land flat her back. The last hyena saw this and attempted to help her ally get back up as she lay momentarily stunned alongside the other injured hunter, but couldn`t find the chance to do so as she ducked two ice blasts and punched a third drone in the head.

Before the wombat could start to get back up herself, muttering a profanity while shaking off the new wave of pain, she quickly saw the carrier drone loom over her with the intent to punch her as hard as it could in the face. "Blood and shale", Digger could only murmur as she tried to block the quick attacks.

 **Prompt: Triangle button, Circle button**

 **Pressed in time:** _Digger is shown deflecting the first attack with both hands, grinding her teeth as she tries not to let the fear she feels get to her. When the carrier drone attempts to hurt her a second time, the wombat then blocks the attack with one hand and immediately uses her other to knock the enemy away from her, leaping to her feet as her foe crashes to the ground._

 **Failed to press:** _Both failed QTE`s play out the same: Digger fails to block the punch thrown at her in time and takes a hard hit. As she squirms and covers the injured area with both hands, the carrier drone attempts to attack her again. However, the hyena it injured suddenly crawls over quickly and rams the machine away from the wombat. As Digger stares in shock, the hurt hyena passes out momentarily, prompting Digger to get back up._ **(Digger: -10%)**

Without taking a second to contemplate her close call, Digger got back in the fight and helped the remaining hyena again.

As she ducked and evaded another freeze blast, the hyena let out a huff of weary exhaustion from the lengthy combat, prompting Digger to shout, "Maybe we should all retreat! I don`t know if we`ll be able to even survive the next surprise attack!", "How!? These things are too persistent, and I`m not leaving my other tribemate behind!", the hyena called back, glancing at her hurt companion close by.

Murai suddenly came into Diggers view, weaving her way around the danger until she reached the anthro animals. It looked as though she mostly recovered from her recent mental ordeal, though some of it faintly lingered by the look in her eyes.

Before Digger or the hyena could say anything, Murai knocked the closest foe away from her and urgently told to the hyena, "Me and my friend will finish these things off. You get your hurt fellow hunter somewhere safer".

"Murai, are you sure that plan is a good idea, let alone one that will work? I can already come up with twenty scenarios that will result in the three of us failing and being frozen alive. And how will the two of us win with three of us at our stamina's end?", Digger asked as she dodged another electric blast.

"We`ve already caused plenty of damage to all the metallic foes. Perhaps we just need to land a few more attacks to come out on top. The hyena can also come back to help once she gets her friend far enough out of harm's way", Murai replied as she noted how dented some of the drones looked already.

Digger looked at Murai, the weary hyena, the hurt hyena, all the drones and back to Murai again as she threw a punch at the other carrier drone. Feeling the pressure get to her, the wombat swallowed some of her common sense and let out a half snarky and half desperate answer.

"Can`t believe I`m agreeing to go headfirst into this heat of the moment plan. All right, I`ll help you out Murai. You, hyena, get your friend to safety". If the wombat had the opportunity, she would have face palmed herself as she said that.

The last hyena standing gave Digger an uncertain glance, as if she were trying to persuade the wombat to change her mind and just not do anything foolish and risky. However, the sound of her co-hunter moaning in pain and the sight of Digger giving her a stern glance made her decide not to argue now.

Quickly, the hyena darted to her friend while Digger and Murai covered for her, mustering all the strength they could to defeat the drones while the injured hyena was taken out of the fighting area.

 **Fight 6-2:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 **-Digger**

 **-Murai**

 _ **Opponents:**_

 **-3 Freeze Drones**

 **-2 Electric Drone**

 **-2 Carrier Drones**

 _After the fight:_

To Diggers shock (as well as Murais), the Veiled members randomly pitched plan ended up paying off. One by one, all the drones hit the ground deactivated and defeated, leaving the area ominously quiet once the last foe was put down for good.

For what felt like an eternity, Digger and Murai just stood where they were, taking in their surroundings while trying to comprehend everything that happened. The sound of the last hyena's footsteps prompted them to move again, as they both looked behind them with alarm and then relief.

"Are you okay Little Mother of Earthquakes? You didn`t get too injured during that battle?", the hyena asked Digger as she looked at the destroyed drones in equal disbelief, giving Murai a short distrustful look while she did. "Excuse me, but Murai here helped too. If anything, I`d ask how her well-being is instead of mine", Digger replied, hands on her hips and glowering a bit towards the indirect insensitivity.

"No need to start a quarrel among each other. We have more important concerns to deal with first. How is the other hyena?", Murai asked, stepping wearily away from the destroyed drones a bit.

"Fracturer of Many Bones is still alive but unconscious and hidden under a nearby bush. Something is clearly wrong with her back as well. Owl Caller will have to take a closer look when we return home… She-Is-Fiercer, the whole tribe will freak out when they hear the whole story. Heck, I won`t be startled if Boneclaw Mother freaked out after hearing my story. I just hope more of those metal foes aren't around to freeze all of us", the hyena said with concern, making Digger and Murai trade worried glances while looking at their surroundings again.

"I don`t mean to sound like I`m going off topic, but did Boneclaw Mother send you, Fracturer and the other hyena out here?", Digger couldn`t help but ask as Murai fully noticed and approach the odd device the drones were carrying earlier, taking in the details while looking baffled by the design.

"She did, and the news I`m bringing back to her and the tribe will be bittersweet. Our honorary member is safe and sound, but two others tribemates are not at the hands of these metal monsters".

"I suggest you come back with me to our settlement so we can speak in a more secure environment. Your human friend should also go back to her own village for her own sake, as I can`t promise her safety if she comes with you", the hyena said before she and Digger noticed Murai was next to the odd device, looking at it worriedly and muttering something to herself.

Digger began to walk towards Murai, and before she could ask what she specifically saw that got her worried, the trio heard one of the destroyed carrier drones emit a faint noise, almost like it was an SOS call.

"Blood and shale, that can`t be good", Digger said starring at the transmitting drone, moments before loud noises above her and everyone else were heard. Looking up, the wombat's eyes widened in horror as she saw what seemed to be five dozen more drones coming down towards the mystery object and getting ready to fire at anyone nearby.

The next thing Digger could remember, she was running as fast as she could from the strange object and evading a rain of ice and electric attacks being aimed towards her. Taking a moment to look back, she noticed Murai was fleeing in the opposite direction with the hyena.

As she nearly tripped, Murai also looked back and shouted to the wombat, "Digger! Go to the village and get help from my Veiled! Tell them that I sent you for help!"

"And then what!? I don`t know if Jhalm will even listen to me without you around!", Digger called back as she saw the hyena stop and steadily pick up her injured companion. Looking a bit desperate, Murai answered, "Just tell my members that I`ll be at the Temple of Ganesh, possibly with another army to help us fight the attackers!", prompting the hyena to give her a hard to read look, with the best interpretation leaning towards, "We`ll talk about this soon".

Digger attempted to shout back some more questions, but by then the drones were too close. As Murai and the two hyenas went for the direction of the hyena settlement, Digger found herself running towards the human village, trying her best not to get hit.

As the wombat sprinted through the forest and noted only a few of the drones had continued to follow her, she quickly put her burrowing skills to good use and dug herself into the ground, tunneling out of sight and emerging in a denser area where she was harder to spot in under the span of a minute.

Hiding behind a tree, Digger then listened to the nearby drones search aimlessly for her before moving back for the strange object, giving the wombat her cue to continue her way back.

Though she was no longer being chased, Digger kept to a steady jogging pace as she made her way to the village, trying not to let her fears about Murais well-being cloud her mind, as well as the fact she had to really choose her words carefully when she spoke to Jhalm and everyone else for help (with the former still possibly eager to hurt her if he jumped to conclusions on what happened to his young Veiled member).

When the village was nearly in sight, just past several thick trees and a few sharp turns, Digger expected the place to be at the very least more calm and collected than the area she fought in the forest.

When she finally stepped out of the woods and had the settlement clearly in her view, a look of horror came to the wombat when she saw the place was already under heavy attack, with more drones than she could count hovering around everywhere.


	49. Digger- Part 6

[ _At the hyena tribe, a while back in the past_ ]

It had been thirty minutes since the meeting with the odd human came to a temporary conclusion, yet to Grim-Eyes it felt like hours.

As she sat outside her home and tried preoccupying herself by sharpening her hunting spear (having no more used arrows to help carry to the cleaning hut as another form of distraction) the anthro hyena did her best not to let her still lingering uncertainty cloud her thoughts, continually telling herself that her adopted sister was completely fine.

There was no way the female earth rat was hurt or dead. She was a smart and strong survivor who could handle anything thrown at her like many of the hunters around here. The human she had run into didn`t look like much of a challenge even, though the topic on him was another category.

A specific sense of ambiguity seemed to surround the man, making it hard to take anything he said at face value (even if none of the hyenas picked up any trace of him lying). His accent and clothing still felt odd and out of place in this area even after memorizing them, and some of his behavior stirred distrust in Grim-Eyes, which indirectly got her thinking about the deeper reason behind her worries for the wombat (a lot of which she didn`t want to face again at a time like this).

Her curiosity about the human suddenly prompted Grim-Eyes to look up towards him again, wondering what he was doing this time.

The first thing the hyena hunter noticed was that he was roaming around the tribe with the two guards assigned to watch him staying close by, observing his every action in great detail while clutching their spears tightly, ready to chase him down and impale him if he suddenly became aggressive or attempted to escape.

Seeing how active the human was now compared to several minutes ago (when he was just curled up close to Boneclaw Mothers hut) was a bit astonishing, though the reason why was something Grim-Eyes understood from her perspective.

After everyone had left the leaders hut at the end of the meeting, the only thing the human did was look around a bit before sitting down, well aware that his presence was still off-putting to many of the tribe inhabitants.

He continued to stay where he was when Boneclaw Mother returned to her hut minutes later, having sent the scouting party out to search for Digger and making sure everything else in the tribe was in order. When she passed the human she stopped and turned to speak to him again, getting him to look up.

Grim-Eyes, who had finished with all the arrows, was heading for her home when she witnessed the talk taking place. She couldn`t exactly make out what was said by her grandmother, though judging by how the human calmed down after the short discussion, it was probably a few more words of comfort.

The human had said something back to Boneclaw Mother with his body language now relaxed and his facial expressions more open. Boneclaw Mother then replied in a friendly tone to his words and went back to her hut, happy she calmed the person down for the time being.

However, that happiness the hyena leader felt became short lived when Bloodtail, who had also witnessed Boneclaw Mother and the humans small talk, stomped over to her hut, nearly spitting on the nearby human as she went inside.

From what Grim-Eyes had also picked up, word had quickly gotten out to everyone as to what exactly happened at the meeting.

Some of the hyenas had reacted negatively to what they heard, muttering that Boneclaw Mother was too soft on the human, while others seemed to feel that her way was worth the benefit of the doubt or even justified, at least until the scouting trio sent out came back with a report. And then there was Bloodtails own reaction to hearing the news, which was something that gave a few of her tribemates a real scare.

When she absorbed all the details of the meeting, her passive-aggressive demeanor changed to one that was entirely aggressive within the span of a few seconds, and the aggression escalated when she began to yell at her leader, being loud enough for everyone nearby to hear.

"You are the real fool here! Why would you show mercy and trust to that…that thing!? Keeping him around will inevitably bring disaster on us, guards watching him or not! And that`s not even getting into the reason behind this course of action: trying to check up on a wombat of all things! If you were a true leader, you`d be polishing her skull on your throne next to that outside creature instead of pandering to their well-being like some idiotic male!"

Grim-Eyes had found herself flinching at the words, detecting some anger brew within herself as her aunt kept ranting towards Boneclaw Mother, attempting to insult and belittle her at every possible second.

As Bloodtail neared the end of her shouting rant, Grim-Eyes was more than ready to come inside the hut and defend her grandmother along with several of the other nearby hyenas, though everyone underestimated the elder's wit yet again as she immediately retorted the whole tirade without missing a beat.

"Do you feel proud of yourself, vainest of them all? Talking smack to an elderly, defenseless and frail hyena as if you feel she can`t even stand up for herself? Would you dare say what you said to my face if I were half the age I was and more likely to get up and personally teach you a lesson? Or would you have immediately scampered away like the coward you are, back to your own troublemaking lifestyle?"

A few moments of silence followed, though Grim-Eyes and all the listening hyenas could easily picture Bloodtail looking caught off guard with no idea what to do or even say next. Boneclaw Mother then went in for the final blow, getting into personal territory to put her foe to shame.

"All your life you`ve lived here, and what have you made of it? Oh nothing, except earn the animosity of every being who`s had the misfortune of coming across you. Your sister, your niece, your other family member I can`t even say aloud anymore, they all despise you for good reason and you know you deserve every moment of that contempt deep down. Now get out of my hut and stop being a pain to me. I can`t even stomach the thought of you in my presence".

As Earl, and by extent the two guards, moved away from the hut, Bloodtail nearly barged her way outside. She didn`t look up as she stomped her way to the outskirts of the village, doing her best to avoid hearing all the mockery directed at her. She didn`t even raise her head when she passed Grim-Eyes, though she did mutter profanity under her breathe at her.

Choosing to ignore her aunt, Grim-Eyes stayed where she was and continued to observe the human, who was mentioning something to the guards about feeling awkward from the whole scene and that moving around a little to know the place better would be helpful.

Now, as Grim-Eyes set her weapon aside and stood up with her arms feeling a bit sore, she noticed that the human was approaching a group of the tribe's male hyenas. Said males were doing their usual household chores at this point of the day; washing dirty clothing in wooden tubs while they gossiped with one another. Some of them were also watching their cubs play nearby as they worked, making sure they behaved until their mothers came home from their own work outside the tribe.

Right away, the human got all the males attention and began to speak to them. What he talked about ended up giving the males some odd reactions, ranging from confusion to laughter.

Wondering what the human was saying, Grim-Eyes found herself come closer, forgetting her distrust for him for a moment. When she got within hearing distance, she quickly realized why the male's hyenas were reacting the way they were. Apparently, the human was telling them the most ridiculous things any male could say in the tribe.

"So, what do you guys do for entertainment around here? Play any sports or...do other athletic things?", the human asked in a confused tone as all the male hyenas continued to laugh.

"Looks like this male has been spending too much time cooking around the kettle. I mean, doing dangerous sporting events? Next he`ll suggest going out to hunt, followed by beer drinking at a tavern to hit on females in a tough bad male way", one of the male hyenas commented, prompting the human to look clueless as more laughter emitted from the working group.

"Well then, what do males do for guy time around here? If you don`t do sports or hunting or anything normal, what do you do for fun?", the human asked as Grim-Eyes noted that a few nearby female hyenas were now listening, some of whom were looking offended and appalled by the man's words.

"Oh the usual. Stay home and watch the cubs, make dinner for our loved ones when they come home, make sure home is also clean, maybe go out with the other guys to get our manes combed and cleaned while partaking in lesser spoken gossip…why are you looking so strange at us? Isn`t that what males in your hometown normally do?", another male hyena asked as he got ready to take some of his mates clothing back home.

Grim-Eyes noted that a few female hyenas continued to look hostile towards the human as he awkwardly replied that things were way different there than here, unintentionally sparking xenophobic undertones around him.

Not wanting another scene to take place right after Bloodtails outburst (as that alone probably put Boneclaw Mother in a sour mood for the moment (and who knew how she`d react to another scene right away in this state of emotion)), Grim-Eyes decided to step in and get the human out of the awkward situation for everyone's sakes.

Without a word, she grabbed the human by the arm and pulled him away from the males, letting them return to their housework in peace. "Hey, what gives? I wasn`t doing anything wrong", the man exclaimed as he was taken to a more secluded area of the tribe; the two guards following along at a distance.

Once Grim-Eyes felt she was far enough away from everyone, she let go of the human and said, "I know you may not be from these parts of the forest, but even a child of your species would pick up the fact that different places work in different ways. You openly discussing some gender roles really pressed some of my clan's buttons", "If you`re saying that I was causing trouble, I`m not even-", the human began, prompting Grim-Eyes to cut him off to continue talking.

"You`re lucky I stepped in to save you human. Even though you are a male, I doubt some of the more traditional female hyenas would hold back on reacting aggressively. Personally, I`d go back to keeping my head down and staying silent. I`m telling you this for your own good".

"First off, you need to stop calling me "human". I`ve already told you and your tribe leaders that my name is Earl…I think. Second, I can look out for myself. I went through a lot of danger back home, so I have experience in events where thing go unexpectedly crazy. And third, while part of me does appreciate you looking out for me, I still seem to recall that you and I aren't exactly on good terms with that whole missing wombat scenario. Why won`t you lighten up and just try to believe my side of the story? And for that matter, why are you obsessively worried about that wombat more than anyone else here? What is your main reason? That`s some of the biggest questions on my mind the more I think about it", the human, Earl, retorted.

Grim-Eyes became ominously silent, making Earl regret what he`d said as he looked at the cold and calculating expression glaring at him. As he wondered what the odds were of the hyena attacking him personally, he tried to secretly signal the two guards watching him to come over, though he froze at the last second as he realized they were too far away to save him in the worst case scenario.

However, much to his surprise, Grim-Eyes didn`t attack Earl physically. Instead, she relaxed her stance, let out a sigh and replied in a hard to place tone, "I`m just hoping I don`t have to deal with lose again. Not after what happened all those months ago".

"Wait, all those months ago? What are you talking about?", Earl asked, trying to keep his tone more collected this time while also feeling a bit of genuine concern for the hyena.

Grim-Eyes suddenly felt as if she shared too much without really thinking, and immediately became more defensive to keep the stranger from learning what she knew.

Before Earl attempted to get Grim-Eyes to speak up in another way, the duo heard a loud fake cough nearby and turned to see Bloodtail again.

As she walked by them and ignored the glares she got, the unwelcome hyena kept her pace slow as if to intimidate her onlookers. It didn`t, but the time she took to pass them prompted the other hyena and Earl to notice a few additional details in Bloodtails demeanor and outward appearance; realizing something else was going on.

Earl noticed that Bloodtails feet and arms were more dirty than the usual standard for her kind here, as if she`d dug a hole into the ground very recently. As for Grim-Eyes, she focused on that sadistic smirk that appeared on her aunts face, feeling she`d done something unethical to ease her earlier displayed anger.

Grim-Eyes then realized her aunt was also mouthing some words so faintly to herself that she barely noticed them at the last second. What the younger hyena picked up sent a chill down her spine. "Ed is dead".

"Oh no. Not again", Grim-Eyes said in horror before sprinting towards the nearest exit within the tribes walled in territory. Earl, wondering what was causing the hyena to act like this, followed her as she sprinted past everyone and everything, feeling some animosity change to concern as he observed her actions.

When the hyena ran past the two guards at the entrance and into the nearby forest, Earl found his attempt to follow her halted by two drawn spears. As he took a step back in alarm from the growling hyenas, the other two who were watching him earlier came up from behind and nearly gave him another jump scare.

"Hey! Didn`t you hear what Boneclaw Mother told you earlier? You can`t leave for now", one of the guards from behind said. "What about your tribemate? It looks like she`s going through a problem and needs someone there to help her! I don`t see anyone else coming over to do that", Earl retorted as he looked towards the direction Grim-Eyes ran, witnessing the hyena stop and stare down at something through some foliage.

As the four hyenas looked a bit hesitant (having seen Grim-Eyes like this before and knowing from experience that she didn`t want anyone to bother her (while also having the urge to go and talk to her themselves despite this)) Earl persisted in his case to check up on Grim-Eyes himself by saying, "Isn`t the area Grim-Eyes is at considered tribe territory soil or something, like within your village boundary in a way? Because if it is, then I`m still honoring your leaders deal by staying within your home".

The two hyenas assigned to watch Earl didn`t know what to say exactly, feeling the human found a legit loophole to Boneclaw Mothers rule. To their surprise, Boneclaw Mother suddenly appeared at the doorframe of her hut (intending to find Shadebones and have a private chat about some of the new hunters training) and "looked" towards the conflict at the main entrance, picking up the commotion right away.

Detecting all the guard's ambivalence towards the situation after hearing most of Earls argument, the elder hyena gave a concerned expression and a nod, signaling the assigned watchers that it was okay for Earl to go where he wanted to (as Boneclaw Mother herself wanted to speak to Grim-Eyes after picking up enough of the story to know what was going on, though her job to the rest of the tribe couldn`t let her now).

Seeing this, the hyenas all relaxed slightly and the two at the gate moved their spears aside, gesturing Earl to go ahead. Taking a moment to express his surprise that his argument worked (while unaware of Boneclaw Mothers help), Earl thanked the two at the entrance and sprinted after Grim-Eyes, with the other two hyenas staying right behind him and hoping that Boneclaw Mother didn`t make a mistake in the heat of the moment.

Earl, doing his best to ignore the two guards, found himself stumble a bit as he approached the worried hyena. He noticed she`d knelt down to what she was looking at earlier, picking up a piece of something and examining it in great detail while completely oblivious to the rest of her surroundings.

As he stopped right behind Grim-Eyes and did a quick scan of the area while catching his breath, Earl noted that he was in some sort of cemetery with markers coating the ground. Trying to ignore the uncomfey feeling he developed, Earl then cleared his throat and found himself say, "Excuse me? Grim-Eyes?"

In a split second, Grim-Eyes spun around and managed to knock Earl to the ground with her foot. She then stood up before he could react and looked down; a glowering expression on her face that kept Earl frozen in fear.

"You have a lot of nerve startling a hyena like that. If I`d had a knife at hand when you scared me, you`d be decapitated into a dozen pieces instantly", Grim-Eyes scowled, showing some aggression to cover her sadness.

"S…sorry. I was just trying to find out what was upsetting you. Figured I could at least help you out if someone like Bloodtail was involved in giving you misery", Earl replied, though it looked like Grim-Eyes didn`t fully hear him as her mind was still elsewhere for the moment.

Once her thoughts returned to the present, Grim-Eyes offered the human a hand to get back up. As he accepted the offer and got lifted off the ground, Earl suddenly noticed what Grim-Eyes was observing moments earlier.

It looked like another grave marker, only this one was damaged with pieces of it scattered around. A name, barely readable from all the claw marks over it, spelled Ed.

Deciding to break the ice, and to have someone else to think about besides the two nearby guards still watching him, Earl tried to start things off by asking who Ed was.

"He was my father. A former member of our tribe, a surviving first born cub and a skin painter", Grim-Eyes replied as she bent down again, trying to put the pieces of the marker back together while also finding herself speak more openly now.

Whether she was resorting to a coping mechanism without realizing it at the sight of the ruined grave or not, Grim-Eyes started to feel some grief subside as she spoke, indirectly making her more open to any questions the human wanted to ask her.

"Ed…Huh. That`s a strange name by the tribe's standards…I mean, everyone in your tribe has tougher sounding names in comparison: Shadebones, Throat Ripper, Arrow Slayer", Earl said before he bent down and attempted to help restore the broken marker.

"Ed wasn`t his birth name. Mother of Little Earthquakes gave him it the night they met. As for the real name he was born with, it was eaten on the day of his exile, so I couldn`t say it even if I knew it", Grim-Eyes explained, prompting Earl to ask what she meant by the "eaten" part.

 **Earl narrating:** "Grim-Eyes ended up sharing the whole story behind her father and the circumstances behind his exile: How her aunt Bloodtail courted him due to his status as a surviving firstborn (as firstborn hyenas usually died), how he fell for her sister Blood Eyes instead and later had a kid with her, and Bloodtail messed with her sisters mental issues she had as revenge for being rejected, causing a lot of domestic trouble in the household that put Ed and Grim-Eyes in harm's way and ultimately ended with Ed killing his spouse out of fear for his kids safety".

 **Scene shown:** _As Earl is shown asking questions and Grim-Eyes is shown answering and giving the details, the marker is slowly put back together in its nearly original state. The narrating part ends when the last piece is put in place by Grim-Eyes, who then stands up and takes a good look at it. Earl does likewise before he keeps listening to the hyena talk._

"And do you know what I think the worst part to that whole story was? Me and the way I reacted later on", Grim-Eyes said after giving Earl time to take in all the details of the story so far.

Giving the hyena a surprised look, Earl replied, "Wait, what? It`s not your fault all that happened. The circumstances were out of your control like Ed`s".

"It`s not about me when I was a cub…It`s about that encounter me and my father had years later. Back when I had recently befriended the wombat", Grim-Eyes clarified, now displaying guilt.

 **Earl narrating:** "Grim-Eyes then told me about how she had ran into her father during a night when these enemies were trying to hunt and kill the wombat. She didn`t know who Ed was when she wound up in his cave to get her future adopted sister somewhere safer, and had said some pretty nasty things in his face due to his outcast status; things she ended up regretting when the wombat stopped by her home before leaving the forest years earlier and told her Ed`s whole story".

 **Scene shown:** _While Grim-Eyes talks, a brief flashback from her perspective is shown: Her in Ed`s cave acting aggressive to the male hyena, with him cowering back in fear. The flashback then jumps forward and shows Digger approaching the hyena village again with Grim-Eyes stepping out after hearing her name called. Digger then talks to Grim-Eyes alone, telling her the story she heard from Ed, and the hyenas confused expression turns to one of shock and confusion as the narration segment ends._

"And at the end of the day, when the wombat left and I spoke to several of my tribemates, I was able to confirm to myself that the story was true. The Eaten who I`d insulted, who I referred to as filth amid other unkind things, and who I had made quiver in fear in my state of aggressive disgust was my father", Grim-Eyes concluded, her head hanging in shame.

"Why didn`t anyone in your tribe tell you this before?", Earl asked, looking confused and a bit sad. "When I was younger, I think Boneclaw Mother, Owl Caller and a few other tribemates tried mentioning some of the details, but I didn`t want to hear it. I`d always thought that exiled hyenas were irredeemable filth who deserved to be nothing more than a distant memory, not worth talking about even. How foolish I was then to believe entirely in this mindset", Grim-Eyes only said, looking at the scratched name on the marker.

After a few moments of silence, Earl brought up another factor of the tragic backstory. "There`s something else I don`t understand. How is it that Bloodtail didn`t get punished for what she did? If she stoked your mother's mental issues and stepped back to watch her act violent…".

"Everyone else in the tribe had some idea of what happened, but my aunt was crafty in her scheme. She acted just enough to make things go the way she planned, but stayed out of it enough as well to avoid being held accountable. When my father had to answer for the death he caused, Boneclaw Mother had no way of punishing her as well", "So Bloodtail basically used a bunch of loopholes to her advantage", Earl stated, making Grim-Eyes nod.

"For years, she seemed to rejoice in the fact that she got her in-law banished and destined to be a forgotten memory, despite the fact it made her be seen negatively by everyone else".

"Then a few years ago this heroic hyena named Ed, who so happened to be a distant friend of Boneclaw Mothers, died defeating an evil god and prevented many evils from being unleashed in the process. Everyone had mourned, cried and gave a toast to this hero they all didn`t know. Boneclaw Mother even had the memorial included here so he could be remembered, saying after all he went through he deserved to have his story and name passed down for generations to come".

"Of course, it didn`t take long for everyone in the tribe to put the pieces together and realize that the skin painter who killed Blood Eyes and Ed were one and the same. Most of my tribemates were a bit off put by this, though they let it slide as they felt all those final years in solitary were punishment enough".

"Bloodtail on the other hand…if she was already mean-spirited and nasty before, then the fact that her carefully crafted plan ultimately failed really got to her. She`s been lashing out more, acting unpredictable at times and has been called to frequent "meetings" with Boneclaw Mother on her behavior, though it feels more like a parent scolding a bratty child if you listen to them. She`s also destroyed my father's memorial twice before, at the height of her personal rage".

"Wait, she destroyed your father's grave three times already? Shouldn`t that earn her a serious punishment or something?", Earl asked.

"It probably would, but not one that`d get her name eaten followed by it getting exiled. The last two times, Boneclaw Mother gave Bloodtail harsh labor as punishment, yet she didn`t let that bother her. She just did a bunch of hard work, waited for things to calm down and then damaged the grave all over again. You`ll probably see the process repeat if you stayed here long enough", Grim-Eyes replied before heading back to the village, wondering how her tribe would take the news of the act this time.

As she and Earl walked side by side with the two guards following, listening but not commenting, Grim-Eyes found herself look back towards her father's restored memorial one last time before she said, "I hope I`m not about to hear any news that I lost someone else close to me when that scouting party returns…", to no one apparently.

"Don't worry. I`m sure those three hyenas will find your adopted sister and tribemate. Nobody you know or cared about got killed or captured out here. And I`m sure Boneclaw Mother will really let Bloodtail have it this time for what she did. Maybe if I back you up and point out how nothings working, she`ll get a punishment that will really teach her a lesson. Sort of like karma", Earl said, trying to reassure the hyena as his mind connected the final pieces of her backstory together (while also feeling a bit more regretful that things went out of control with his wombat encounter).

Managing to pick up some of the optimism and hope for a few moments, Grim-Eyes gave a small nod before saying, "You do make a good point there. After we inform Boneclaw Mother of that she-demons actions, I`ll just sit back, have a mead or two and wait for the news. I`m guessing my father would have advised me to do something like that anyway for my own good".

"That sounds like a smart idea. Maybe I can join…", Earl began, earning him a growl from the hyena. "Don`t push your luck male. Just because we had one conversation about my past to help ease some tension doesn`t mean that we`re drinking pals or something. I still don`t know much about you, let alone that I`d see you as an acquaintance. And there`s still the ambiguity involving Digger and you here", Grim-Eyes sternly told him.

"Well, what if I talked to you about my past a bit? I`m sure you`ll find it quite interesting, given some of the things I had to make up for in my missteps. Plus, it could help ease some more hostility going on around here", Earl suggested, prompting Grim-Eyes to think about it as she and Earl reentered the village.

 **Earl narrating:** "Though she wasn`t fully on board with the idea, Grim-Eyes ended up agreeing to hear my story after we found out that Boneclaw Mother couldn`t be bothered at the moment, though we were promised the opportunity to speak to her as soon as she was done with her meeting".

"Considering Bloodtail was also nowhere to be found at the moment, I`d say waiting for her to return from wherever she went to have her own private hissy fit was probably the best call to see her get a more effective punishment".

"As we both had a glass near her hut, I ended up talking to Grim-Eyes about Camden and some of the people there (though I found myself avoid bringing up the attack, as the meeting left me convinced there was nothing I could do to make anyone else here believe me). And while she didn`t show it, the hyena was actually interested for the most part".

 **Scene shown:** _Grim-Eyes and Earl are both shown approaching Shadebones hut, with Boneclaw Mother barely seen from the doorframe talking to someone. Another guard close by suddenly stands between the duo and the leader, briefly informing the formers they can`t enter at the moment and that they`d probably have to wait a while, given how lengthy the topic of the talk is._

 _As Earl and Grim-Eyes leave, looking around to see if Bloodtail is anywhere nearby, Boneclaw Mother looks at their direction for a moment before turning her attention back to the hyena she`s speaking with, intending to talk with her granddaughter the second the talk is over._

 _The final scene in the narration segment shows Earl and Grim-Eyes sitting near the hyena's home. As the two guards continue to watch him, Earl talks with the hyena about his past adventures before taking a sip of mead. Grim-Eyes just listens with her ears perked up slightly, appearing both engaged and indifferent as she takes her own gulp of the alcoholic beverage._

"…and with that, Mr. Patrick ended up in jail for stealing all that money from the business", Earl concluded, showing the crossed out misdeed to Grim-Eyes on his karma list. "Well, glad to hear that some villains in your land got what they deserved", Grim-Eyes responded before swallowing the last of her drink.

"Yeah. Speaking of villains getting what they deserve, what do you think we should suggest Bloodtail get for that whole vandalism fiasco?", Earl asked, trying not to feel too inebriated as he spoke. "Don`t know, but when Boneclaw Mother hears what Bloodtail did again…", Grim-Eyes began before suddenly pausing and looking towards the main village entrance, her ears completely perked and her mind fully alerted.

Before Earl could ask what was wrong, he and the other hyenas around him picked up some bad vibes in the air.

It was hard to explain the feel, but from his own perspective it reminded him of what he`d felt moments before the attack on Camden, causing Earl to look alarmed as he stood up, trying to spot any drones.

Grim-Eyes gave Earl a confused look to his reaction before glancing towards the main entrance, (the source of the vibes) where a small crowd was forming again to watch someone come over. Grabbing her sharpened spear and leaving the human back to being watched by the guards, the hyena was ready to rush to the front and see what was going on when she saw her grandmother, done with her meeting and heading for the entrance as well.

"Boneclaw Mother, where are you going!? Stay back!", Grim-Eyes yelled, rushing to her grandmother. The last thing she wanted to worry about here was the leader in harm's way of an approaching foe.

"Settle down child. I`ve experienced many dangers in my long life, and I feel within that whatever is drawing the crowd's attention won`t require a weapon (at least not right away)", Boneclaw Mother replied, using the right tone and amount of argument to make Grim-Eyes stay out of her way, prompting the young warrior to walk alongside her instead to the front of the crowd.

Said crowd had moved aside for their leader so she could come face to face with whoever was coming. While the leader sniffed the air and detected a familiar scent, Grim-Eyes looked ahead and tried to locate whoever everyone else had seen, noting that there wasn`t much panic within the onlookers. Instead, what the crowd had witnessed had them more worried instead.

It took her seconds to spot two of her tribemates, realizing they were from Boneclaw Mothers scouting party, and a familiar looking human coming down the nearby rocky slope carefully but urgently towards home. Grim-Eyes found herself caught off guard as she got a good look at the new human and the fact that one of the tribemates was being carried by the other.

"Murai?!", Grim-Eyes called out as the human got closer, leading the way for the hyenas, prompting Boneclaw Mother to signal the guards up front to lower their spears upon recognizing her as well.

The Veiled member stopped as she reached the entrance and starred at the many hyenas looking at her aggressively or fearfully. This didn`t faze her though, as she acknowledged Grim-Eyes with a nod before looking towards Boneclaw Mother.

"Boneclaw Mother, I hate to share bad news with you, but I should let you know that one of your tribemates has been severely hurt in a fight", the young human urgently told her, gesturing to the injured hyena.

Grim-Eyes found her attention go back to the injured tribe member. As she was carried by the other scouting hyena through crowd and towards Owl Callers hut, the sight of the injuries caused many to wince, including Grim-Eyes.

In her many years of hunting, Grim-Eyes had witnessed plenty of injuries (ranging from cuts to broken bones that healed after a few weeks), but this was something else entirely, as Fracturer of Many Bones looked like she had a bit of her back sticking out of place. This got her in turn to wonder what exactly caused this as some questions were asked aloud by the surrounding crowd, some towards the human and some amongst the hyenas themselves.

As Boneclaw Mother let out a loud whistle and tried to calm everyone down, Earl recovered from his scare and found himself approaching the crowd. The second he saw Murai, his eyes widened in surprise. "Another human", he murmured, drawing some odd looks for a moment.

 **Earl narrating:** "After being thrown out of my own dimension from that blast, seeing another member of my species in a different world was a sight to behold. However, when this woman started to talk about these recent events she went through, all those other worries I tried to put aside came up again".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl is first shown looking towards Murai with some relief. The sight of Boneclaw Mother talking calmly to her also makes Earl feel less worried about his current situation, as part of him thinks this encounter can help him leave the tribe soon. Then, as Murai starts to go into the details of how the hyena got injured, a look of worry slowly takes over his expression._

When Boneclaw Mother had gotten everyone to quiet down, she had begun a chat with Murai, starting off pleasant. ("Nice to hear your voice again Murai. I take it you`ve been a huge aid to your fellow Veiled these past few years?", "Indeed I have honored Boneclaw Mother. And it looks like the past few years have been kinder to you as well".).

Then, with the subtlest of ways, Boneclaw Mother managed to steer the conversation to the topic of how she came across two of her tribemates, as well as how one of them she had sent with them was missing. Right away, Murai looked a bit nervous as she told the story of what happened in the forest: How she met Digger in the nearby human village, how the duo had gone for their walk, the surprise attack by metallic foes that left two of the hyenas in a terrible status and the strange device said metal foes were carrying.

Grim-Eyes looked fully relieved to hear the wombat was safe and almost interrupted, but a "look" from Boneclaw Mother made her decide to hold her questions until later. Like Earl and the other listening hyenas, her relief also turned to concern when she heard the rest of the story.

When Murai reached the end of it, some outcry and accusations of lying came from the crowd, with most of it being about the enemies and how they fully froze the missing hyena.

"Listen, I know the story sounds hard to believe, but I know what I saw and experienced back there. Leader Boneclaw Mother, I advise you to take precaution. Get all your warriors ready because these foes are the most persistent enemies you can ever imagine", the Veiled pleaded, her voice near desperation.

Deciding to come to her aid, Earl got Boneclaw Mothers (and by extent the crowds) attention.

"Please listen to her Boneclaw Mother! I know some of your council didn`t believe my story about how the world I came from got destroyed by these enemies that sound similar to this woman's description, but take her advice and get ready to run or fight harder than ever before! You and everyone are in bigger danger than you can imagine!", he pleaded, surprising Murai with his presence while all the hyenas ended up looking towards Boneclaw Mother.

The leader of the hyenas approached Earl to ask him about some more details in a quieter tone, showing concern in her voice as she spoke. Apparently, her own gut instinct about the human's claims being right were now proven to her, and knowing what the tribe was to face became her main priority.

While she observed the quick side conversation, Murai looked towards Grim-Eyes and asked who this man in the odd attire was.

"This human we found with the earth rats pick-ax. Some of us, including me, thought he did something to harm her. Guess I was wrong about that…but is the wombat still okay? If what you said really happened and she`s out there alone with unknown enemies going after her…", Grim-Eyes replied.

"She was heading to the village for help. With her skills and stamina, I`m sure she made it", Murai replied, though both females didn't look any less worried.

Suddenly, a loud noise was heard in the sky above, cutting Earls talk with Boneclaw Mother short. Looking up, everyone saw what looked like metal devices rocketing overheard, prompting the females to either run and get their strongest weapons or take a defensive position while the males and the young took shelter in their homes.

As Grim-Eyes herself looked up in shock, trying to identify what she was seeing despite hearing the description from two sources already, and Boneclaw Mother found herself surrounded by her guards that tried to get her to move somewhere safer, Murai and Earl took a step back in horror.

"No... they`re already here. It`s too late for everyone", Earl could only say as he starred at the incoming attackers, which were being led by a brainwashed and carried _alligator/fox_ in the front of the army.


	50. Digger- Part 7

It seemed that out of nowhere, things started to go wrong with the final portion of the plan in destroying this dimension, and the Alpha drone leader really didn`t like it.

First, a report from one of the drones came in, revealing that the transporting party was destroyed before the connection was lost. This prompted the _alligator/fox_ to reroute the drones with _her/him_ to the current location of the dimension eraser (which was thankfully still intact), going in an entirely different direction.

Then, as the Alpha was carried over the forest, an occupied and primitive looking village came into sight. This caught the drone leader by surprise, as the scouting drones apparently failed to detect this place during the wide sweep of the area they did earlier.

Before an order could be given to a few drones to attack the village, some armed inhabitants of the area managed to make their move before the Alpha drone leader.

A bunch of well-aimed arrows flew towards the midair drone army, striking and sending a couple drones nosediving to the ground where they exploded in balls of fire. One of the drones managed to hit the wooden wall that closed in the village territory, leaving a huge gap once the flames died down.

Seeing part of the army destroyed made a look of rage appear on the _alligator/fox._

"Half of you, get down there and attack everyone you see! The rest of you can keep flying toward the dimension eraser!", the Alpha drone leader managed to order before a pair of arrows struck the two drones that were carrying _her/him_.

As the two drones malfunctioned and began to fall downward, the devices that the _alligator/fox_ was wearing started to work overtime, processing a way to help the drone leader survive. Five seconds later, a solution was found.

At the exact perfect moment, the Alpha drone leader let go of the two drones and did a stamina packed midair flip, managing to land perfectly on _her/his_ feet near the ruined village wall without a scratch while the transport crashed in a fiery explosion behind _her/him._

While some of the drones began to land behind their leader amid their destroyed comrades, a contact from the boss suddenly came through.

"Alpha Leader, what the hell is going on over in wherever you are now? It looks like you`re falling behind on the plans. There`d better be a good excuse as to why you`re not on top of them, else I might as well freeze you and look for a better replacement", the voice from beyond the dimension stated.

Before the Alpha drone could reply, an arrow suddenly hit the armor _she/he_ was wearing and sent _her/him_ falling on the ground, unharmed but more alert.

As a few of the drones quickly surrounded their leader to protect _her/him_ from what looked like anthro hyenas defending their home aggressively, firing as many arrows as they could to delay the advancing army from entering the village for as long as they could, the Alpha drone pulled out _her/his_ freeze pistol and began to move forward from cover. While all this happened, the boss continued to rant and berate on the other end of the communication.

"Goddamn it! Answer me you useless piece of accessory material! What the hell is going on over there!?", "I`ve encountered some unexpected resistance in more than one area. By my calculations, it seems the chances of getting the dimension eraser to its designated spot before the countdown ends is pretty low. Awaiting potential new orders", the Alpha drone replied as _she/he_ managed to make _her/his_ way into the village with a lot of the drones.

Taking an opportunity to do some recon before being potentially ordered to go back into the action here, the Alpha drone slipped from the cover drones to the rear of a nearby hut.

As the drones that had protected _her/him_ were taken down by a dozen arrows and one spear carrying hyena (who directly took two of them out herself before being frozen), the _alligator/fox_ carefully peered out of the new cover to see who _she`d/he`d_ soon fight and capture. 

The first thing the drone leader noticed more clearly was the many female hyenas fighting; all of them either firing arrows or using spears to stab the attack drones.

Despite the overwhelming number of enemies, each warrior was doing rather well individually, with every hyena that got frozen and levitated upward taking down a dozen drones before they were officially gone.

As some of the fighters in the background fled the village, escorting plenty of males and cubs with them, and the boss continued to think up what to do next, the drone leader's attention turned to two odd looking humans working their way through the whole battle.

One of them was a young woman who had picked up a captured hyenas spear and did a few attacks of her own, bringing down a drone that nearly froze the other human, who himself looked and felt like he didn`t belong here. The other human quickly thanked the woman before reaching one of the nearby hyenas, calling her "Grim-Eyes" and telling her that they needed to round everybody up and retreat.

"I`ve been through this situation twice already, and I know how things will end for everyone! We just have to find somewhere isolated to stay until this electricity wave appears and throws the tribe to the next world", the other human urgently explained, ducking to avoid an electric blast.

The woman and the hyena both looked confused and conflicted by what was said to them before the woman urgently stated, "I informed the wombat that my own Veiled would help out. If I manage to get to the assigned location I gave Digger earlier, I can bring them over here to help us even the odds. The hyenas just need to hold back all the enemies until…".

"Are you serious!? Bring more fighters here with the invasion already in full swing!? Look above and around you! The area and almost everywhere else is surrounded by these death trap devices, and bringing your people here won`t do anything impactful by the time this world ends! Just take my word for it and get the fighters to escape somewhere drone free! We`ve basically lost this battle to whoever was behind it before it even started!", the other human interrupted, gesturing to the drones that were entering the village or flying by overhead.

"Tell all the warriors to retreat?! You`re the crazy one here! Persuading every single tribe inhabitant left to fall back could best be carried out by Boneclaw Mothers orders! And that`s not even processing how we`ll all shake these things off us if they`re so persistent in their attacks", the hyena next to the humans replied, looking towards the last area she saw her grandmother as she spoke.

As the Alpha drone leader continued to stay behind cover and observe, _she/he_ noticed the hyena suddenly look alarmed at the sight of blood in the spot where the tribe's leader was last seen. Quickly, she dodged some attacks and sprinted out of sight in the nearby area, attempting to find the elderly leader with the two humans following her and looking equally concerned, having forgotten about their earlier argument for the moment.

Before the Alpha Drone leader could observe anyone else fighting, the boss suddenly contacted _her/him_ again, coming up with a backup plan he felt would do for now.

"Okay, okay. Listen closely. The plan has changed drastically and I don`t need you to screw this new idea I came up with. You`re going to have a lot of the drones guard the dimension eraser in the new location until it`s about to go off. You already got that?"

"Affirmative. I`ve already sent many drones to the current location".

"Good. I really was looking forward to hearing that the device exploded in the assigned location, but some people just screw things up for you and you need to make do with something far more annoying. Anyway, you and all the drones can just attack everyone you see and hang around until the timer nears the end. Once you`re done in this place, report back to the ship", the boss ordered before ending the connection.

Stepping out of cover, the Alpha drone immediately got to work and fired _her/his_ freeze pistol at any hyena that was spotted. As the tribes remaining members were slowly but steadily picked off by one well aimed shot after the next, the _alligator/fox_ started to move around the whole village, attempting to leave the area with none of the savage creatures around for the end.

Little did the drone leader know, an elderly hyena was silently following _her/him_ from cover to cover, staying out of _her/his_ sight alongside all the surrounding drones sight. And as she waited for the right opportunity to strike, a deadly venom that the old female hyena intended to use dripped ominously from her claws.

[ _Minutes later at the human village_ ]

As she carefully made her way through the surrounding chaos and hoped that none of the enemies would spot her, Digger tried to locate Jhalm or any of the Veiled while also trying not to let the sights of war and violence get to her.

The encounter with the metal foes in the forest were already a shocking sight alone, but seeing a place that was mostly calm and peaceful less than an hour ago turn into a real battle scene was something else entirely to the wombat.

Every shop and home looked partially destroyed, with personal belongings and merchandise (ranging from crushed fruit to jewelry) littering the ground amid chunks of ice. Left and right, the inhabitants were either hit by ice blasts from some drones and completely encased like the hyena earlier or zapped and stunned by electricity and then frozen.

Either way, those who were encased got lifted up into the sky by some invisible force and vanished in the blink of an eye, sending another chill down Diggers spine when she noticed a few of the victims were Veiled members.

"Blood and shale…I hope there`s someone left here by the time this is all over", the wombat told herself as she neared the center of the village, where most of the chaos apparently was.

To her surprise, she noticed Jhalm was still around and fighting with frightening vigor, causing a pile of destroyed metal beings to steadily grow around him with each swipe he made. Nearby, other Veiled members were also taking down foe after foe with near equal precision, steadily reducing the number of enemies in the area, or escorting the surviving villagers to a safer place.

As Digger made her way around the steadily withering chaos towards the area where the villagers were being kept, a metal being that was laying on the ground close by and apparently destroyed suddenly sprang back up to life again. Though it looked heavily damaged from multiple sword stabs, it managed to process enough energy within to try and end the wombat.

Realizing she didn`t have enough time to run somewhere safer amid everything going on, Digger looked around and spotted a nearby axe laying on the ground, with the metal being between her and the weapon as it slowly raised its arm to freeze her.

Taking a split second to think things through, Digger let out a battle cry and charged forward.

As an ice blast was fired at her, the wombat managed to evade and slid past her foe, barely grabbing the axe along the way. Then, as she let out the "tunnel 17" cry, she quickly got up and swung, striking the enemy in the most critical area she could reach and bringing it down with a loud thud.

Before Digger could react to what she did, a shout from behind her got her attention. One of the Veiled, who`d helped Jhalm defeat a few of the remaining foes, spotted her and got his leaders attention after he ran by to stab the last metal being still standing.

Once he was sure the last enemy in the village was properly destroyed, Jhalm glared at Digger and watched the wombat approach him urgently yet cautiously. As he gripped his sword, the wombat gripped her axe with an equal amount of force when she got to him, feeling there was no time to repeat what had happened earlier.

"So, it looks like you`ve survived the attack. You could call yourself fortunate, considering it looks like I lost a forth of my whole group", Jhalm commented as he did a quick headcount of all the Veiled who regathered together, guarding the remaining villagers while talking amongst themselves urgently.

"What can I say Jhalm? I`m a pretty tough wombat to kill. Speaking of the attack, do you know what happened here exactly while I was absent?", Digger replied with a bit of snark and a lot of concern (amid a look of pity for the decimated Veiled and villagers), taking a moment to observe the ruined surroundings again while keeping her guard up.

Jhalm looked like he was about to answer when he suddenly noticed Murai was nowhere to be seen nearby. "Wait, what happened to Murai? She didn`t get frozen out in the forest, did she?", he asked, feeling some mixed worry and hostility rise within.

It was because of him and his moment of anger that she`d went off somewhere with no other fellow Veiled to back her up in the face of danger. If something had befallen on her due to his actions again…

"She was still alive and with someone trustworthy when I last saw her", Digger stated assuringly, prompting Jhalm to ask who exactly the someone was and where he or she came from.

Right away, Digger told Jhalm the whole story about what happened in the forest and how Murai got separated from her. She didn`t leave out any details when she mentioned the drones, the weird device some of them were carrying and the three hyenas who`d come to their aid, with the last one standing fleeing with the human.

The moment the wombat said the word "hyena", more worry flared in Jhalms sole eye while several other listening Veiled members became equally tense. Seeing this, Digger suddenly recalled the last time the Veiled and hyena tribe met and tried to calm them down.

"The hyenas won`t hurt Murai. Their leader, Boneclaw Mother, is going to remember her the second she shows up at the village and will have any of her hostile tribemates stand down. And once your Veiled member informs her about the danger she and those three hyenas encountered, she`ll sent her army out to help stop these metal foes in case any more show up".

"We`ll be able to get aid in figuring out where the frozen people were taken and put a lid on these attacks before they spread any farther", the wombat concluded, hoping the old hostility between the two groups wouldn`t come up for now.

As Jhalm thought about what he heard, pondering if working with the hyenas was the best move to make against the greater enemy despite his and almost every other Veileds disdain and distrust for them (along with his own past experience with their leader), a new Veiled member appeared from around the corner, holding a bunch of papers while sprinting towards his leader in panic.

The moment the new Veiled member reached Jhalm, he started speaking so fast and in a panicked voice that barely a word was understood. Giving off an annoyed look that matched a few other listeners, Digger let out a loud whistle and managed to silence him momentarily.

"Start from the top and take it more slowly in pacing this time. What`s going on? And what are all those papers about?", the wombat asked as she noticed what he was holding more clearly.

In his hands were about two dozen rolled up small scrolls with hastily written handwriting on almost all of them. Though she couldn`t make out a sentence, something in Diggers bones told her that whatever they were all about offered bad news.

As the Veiled handed some of the scrolls to two of his own members (dropping one that rolled towards Diggers feet in the process), he told Jhalm in a nervous voice, "A lot of flying rats* are appearing in the village message house with one distressed memo of an attack after another. It`s like a dozen are showing up every minute, and they`re all the same in the descriptions they give. Metal beings attacking and freezing all who get in their sights".

(* _a fictional species that briefly appears in the webcomic_ )

As Jhalm talked to the Veiled member, looking startled by what he was hearing (while also starting to feel that more help from anyone (even the hyenas) wasn`t a bad idea at this level of apparent danger all around), Digger picked up the dropped scroll and unrolled it.

Taking a few moments to read the poorly sketched sentences, a feeling of dread overcame the wombat as she realized the name of another village within the memo.

"I know this place. A guide named Henre had helped me and my friends out when we passed by the area", she found herself say out loud, though nobody heard her as she rolled the paper back up and wondered if any other places she knew, like her home or the hyena village, were also experiencing an attack.

As she tried not to picture her distant family and the hyenas being frozen amid a terror filled situation, a sudden call from across the village center got the wombat and everyone else`s attention.

When Digger looked towards the source of the sound, she found herself caught off guard by the sight of the uninjured hyena from the forest frantically approaching her, with a familiar looking pickaxe in hand. The look of worry on her face made the wombat feel that some of her fears were about to be proven true and tried to brace herself for the inevitable bad news.

Before the hyena could get to Digger and say anything, Jhalm came forward on instinct and stood between the two animals with his sword drawn, not pointed it directly at the neighboring tribe member but ready to strike if necessary. The other Veiled looked ready to confront the hyena as well, but their leader signaled them to stand back, feeling he`d be able to handle this by himself if things became violent.

"Settle down Jhalm! She`s not a threat. This hyena helped me and Murai out in the forest during the attack. She`s an ally", Digger stated, prompting the Veiled leader to glare back at her for a moment and say, "I`ll be the judge of who`s an ally or enemy here" before facing the hyena again.

Cutting right to the chase, the Veiled leader asked what business the hyena had being here. "We`re being attacked. These things made entirely out of metal are...", the hyena began with a defensive tone before seeing the many destroyed drones littering the ground.

A look of worry overtook her expression as the hyena then said apprehensively, "So they`ve gotten here too. This attack is starting to feel more wide scaled than I first imagined…", before trailing off.

Digger, who started to become more worried herself upon hearing the word "attacked", spoke up again and pressed her for details as to who or what was being attacked.

"The hyena tribe is being overrun by the same foes from the forest and here. I came over on my own to get help from the Veiled, seeing that Murai member is currently fighting for us now. I thought that if one member would be eager to help, then by extension the rest of her partners would to", the hyena replied, hoping that her gamble for more allies against the tribe's attackers would pay off in the next moments.

A look of legit concern slowly came to Jhalm`s face as he pondered what to do next, with all his men and Digger looking at him, unsure what his answer would be.

Again, Jhalm pondered the idea of getting help from the hyenas. With less men and more enemies nearby that could show up here next, aid from anyone who was open to working with him didn`t sound like a bad idea. Plus, Murai was in their turf, which offered an opportunity to retrieve her along the way.

On the other hand, he knew that hyenas were unpredictable beasts (based on his own lifetime experiences with them) and had a strong sense of disgust for them. There was also some bad blood that was still probably relevant between his group and the tribe, given how the last encounter the two parties had nearly went to the way of war pretty quick.

Taking a deep breath, Jhalm tried to put all his prejudice for the hyenas aside as he reached a decision. He ordered his men to get ready for another immediate battle, having only a few of them stay back to guard the surviving villagers. As the Veiled got ready to move, a look of relief came to the hyenas face while Digger moved past Jhalm to have a few words with her.

"Are Grim-Eyes, Boneclaw Mother and everyone else still okay at the tribe? They holding off the attacks?", she asked, trying not to let any panic seep through her voice. "I don`t know who`s still up and active, but the two you mentioned were alive when I left along with this weird human who`s been calling himself Earl. He had this on him. Said he didn`t intend to take it", the hyena replied before handing the wombats pickaxe out to her.

Setting the axe aside, Digger took her pickaxe and quickly looked it over for any damage, feeling a brief moment of clarity that she had her real trusty weapon back after all this time.

Then the thought of the odd human being at the tribe entered her mind again and took the wombats attention off her pickaxe, mixing in with her other existing concern and worries. How did he end up in the tribe exactly? Was he being friendly or hostile to the hyenas? Was he really a threat to begin with, or was her mind messing with her at the worst moment, making someone peaceful out as a monster?

Before she could ask the hyena any other questions ranging from Grim-Eyes to the human, Jhalm approached the hyena again and ordered her to lead the way.

Finding herself focus on the present situation again, Digger put her questions aside and began to move forward, following the hyena and the Veiled all the way back through the forest. There was no way she was going to let another friend die today on her watch, much less at the hands of a metal machine.


	51. Digger- Part 8

[ _Back at the Hyena village_ ]

"Boneclaw Mother!? Where in the name of She-Is Fiercer are you?!", Grim-Eyes called as she continued to make her way through the anarchy and chaos, getting increasingly anxious as more time passed after seeing the pool of blood.

After the hyena took down three more metallic foes that tried to freeze her, she stopped outside one of the houses and turned to look behind her, seeing Earl and Murai arrive at her heels. As he caught his breathe, Earl managed to tell her, "Grim-Eyes, listen to me. I`m not trying to sound rude or ungrateful towards your grandma, but I think it`s best if the three of us evacuated the area for real this time. We won`t last long out here", "But I can`t leave without making sure the leader of the tribe is safe. All the survivors after this whole attack will need a leader, and with no Boneclaw Mother, who knows how crazy things will get?", Grim-Eyes retorted.

Giving her a look of sympathy and concern, Murai replied, "Honored Grim-Eyes, I hate to say this, but I fear that this mustached man is right. Our luck at evading these metal foes is bound to run out before we know it, and if Boneclaw Mother were really here with us, she`d encourage you to get out to fight another day".

Grim-Eyes bit her lip and clenched her spear, trying not to let her feeling of hopelessness and stubbornness collide. As much as she hated to admit it, Earl had a point about getting out while she still could even with Boneclaw Mother still unfound, since plenty more drones were showing up and decimating the remaining hyena's numbers even further. Then again, she didn`t want to abandon her home just yet, as a few other hyenas who had stayed to fight were already doing that in the background.

As Grim-Eyes conflicting goals swiftly began to veer towards agreeing with the two humans, a loud shout above the noise was suddenly heard. "What was that?", Murai asked urgently as the hyena brushed past her to investigate the sound on instinct.

Crouching behind some cover that was good enough to stay out of the drone's sight for a few minutes, Grim-Eyes identified the source of the sound and growled, prompting Earl and Murai to come over and see what got her aggressive themselves.

The second he noticed an _alligator/fox_ standing in a clearing and firing a freeze pistol at some hyenas (managing to freeze two of them with ease) while giving out orders to the nearby drones, a flabbergasted look came on Earls face.

"No way…it couldn`t be…I thought I was seeing things earlier when I looked up, but that animal in front of the attack really was _her/him_ ", he said in disbelief, prompting Murai to look at him confused while he noticed some more details.

Before she could ask Earl what he was talking about, Grim-Eyes tried to leap out and attack the _alligator/fox_ , prompting Earl to quickly restrain her and hold her back amid her struggles. "Let me go Earl! That thing is a major threat and potential leader of the attack!", the hyena demanded as she watched another tribemate in the distance get frozen by the other animal.

"No no no no no, you don`t understand. I know that _alligator/fox_ …well, I knew _her/his_ friends when I was in that other dimension. _That`s Bea, this friend of a cat named Mae/Gregg, this life partner of a bear named Angus,_ and from what I picked up, attacking this place is out of character for _her/him"_.

"When I last saw _her/him_ , that small town resident was abducted by the real mastermind of the attacks. I think whoever is capturing all these hyenas did something to _her/him_ , like he took over that _gators/foxes_ mind and body somehow", Earl frantically exclaimed, trying to ignore Grim-Eyes claws.

"So you`re claiming that the violent acts the _alligator/fox_ is doing is because there`s no free will left in _her/him_?", Murai asked in worry, making Earl nod to his spot on guess while Grim-Eyes stopped resisting as the facts came to her. "Whether that animal is acting against _her/his_ free will or not, we still have to stop _her/him_ before my whole tribe is gone!", she said as Earl let go of her and took a step back at the sight of her angry expression.

Before Earl could say or do anything about the situation, the Alpha Drone (who at this point had all the nearby metal foes move to another area to look for more targets) suddenly turned and spotted him and the two females. Letting out a smirk, _she/he_ aimed the freeze pistol at the trio as Grim-Eyes attempted to charge at _her/him_ again with nonlethal intent while Murai and Earl tried to find better nearby cover.

Out of nowhere, another hyena emerged from a destroyed hut behind the Alpha Drone and hurriedly charged at _her/him_. The second Grim-Eyes saw who it was, she nearly stopped in surprise while her foe looked away from her, barely deflecting the attack that came from the new hyena.

"Boneclaw Mother!? I thought…", Grim-Eyes said, keeping her distance as she watched her grandmother put up a tough fight against the _alligator/fox_ in disbelief. Earl and Murai ran up to the younger hyena, looking equally surprised by the unexpected rescue, as the leader shouted, "Don`t just stand there like critically wounded prey! Get going! I`ll subdue this threat myself and join you soon!", amid some failed attempts to claw her highly resistant foe.

As Grim-Eyes found herself unable to obey the order, not wanting to lose sight of her grandmother in the chaos again, she suddenly noticed some drones (unknown to everyone that they were signaled by the Alpha) were coming back to protect their leader.

As a few blasts nearly hit the elder hyena, making her unexpectedly struggle a bit against her foe, Grim-Eyes leapt into action with her spear and started attacking any drone that came too close, attempting to hold all of them at bay while the fight went on uninterrupted.

While Grim-Eyes did her best to give her leader some additional defense, Earl (who was near the fight with Murai, going back and forth on actually intervening to help the elderly hyena) suddenly saw some liquid drip from Boneclaw Mothers claws and asked Murai what that was, getting a bad feeling.

"Oh no! That`s a deadly venom. If your possessed friends friend gets a scratch, the poison will enter the blood and kill _her/him_ in less than a minute!", Murai said with alarm, also remembering the tactic that was nearly used against Jhalm last year when he almost ruined Diggers plan to end Sweetgrass Voice for good.

Not wanting to even imagine possibly telling Mae and Angus that their friend was killed during an attack from a misconception and events out of _her/his_ literal control, Earl nearly ran in between Boneclaw Mother and _Bea/Gregg_ , shouting to the leader what he`d told Grim-Eyes earlier while Murai saw Grim-Eyes herself suddenly struggle against two foes and rushed to her aid.

Right away, Boneclaw Mother looked caught off guard by what she heard. As she relaxed her claws and started doing her best to avoid using them to attack and deflect her now enraged foe, she said, "So this creature's thoughts and actions are not in their control somehow? Wish my ears had paid more attention to the odd vibes the _alligator/fox_ was giving before I attacked with lethal intent!".

"Well, to be fair, nobody here really expected this to happened! Heck, everything that`s been going on here feels like one big twist after the next!", Earl replied, trying to justify the leaders mistake as he attempted to restrain _Bea/Gregg_ from behind.

Not too far away, Murai found a strong bow and a sack full of arrows at the ruins of a hut that had previously been stocked with weapons. Without hesitating, she started using her newly acquired weapon to take out some of the drones while Grim-Eyes continued attacking aggressively. As one metallic foe went down after the other, the two females almost found themselves back to back as they fought, giving their all while the tribe and the area steadily fell apart by the second.

Before Grim-Eyes could make a comment to Murai about the situation, preparing to impale the next drone as hard as she could, she suddenly saw the brainwashed _alligator/fox_ leap at Boneclaw Mother and attack her. Boneclaw Mother stumbled out of view while Earl was dragged along with the following Alpha, desperately fighting to hold the drone leader down while protecting the elder.

"Boneclaw Mother!", Grim-Eyes called in panic as she took down her next drone, not seeing any of the three return to view immediately. The hyena almost went after her leader and the human, but stopped upon realizing more drones had showed up to the area, with their numbers making it too risky for her to directly approach.

"Honored Grim-Eyes, perhaps we can find another way around and shoot a clear path through to get to Boneclaw Mother and the other human", Murai offered, firing another arrow at a drone that tried to target her.

"Good idea. Quick, hand me the crossbow. You can watch my back and even use my spear", Grim-Eyes agreed, ready to stare potential death in the face as she recalled all the targets she hit with the long range weapon while out hunting before.

"But I have had many years of experience in the Veiled using a bow and arrow, and as my fellow members would tell you, I`m a good shot myself. Let me fire the way through while you watch my back", Murai offered, feeling her and the hyena's chances would be better with her on the offense instead of defense.

At that moment, time seemed to slow down between the human and the hyena as they both considered each other's points as well as who should really be in charge of the bow and arrows. While they weighed the options for a few seconds, some of the drones started to close in ready to fire.

 **Who gets to be the one with the bow and arrow for the next segment?**

 _ **Grim-Eyes (square button) or Murai (circle button)**_

 _-A ten second timer appears under the options as Murai and Grim-Eyes slowly look away from one another to face the drones. Murai manages to keep one drone back with a well-timed kick while Grim-Eyes stabs another with her spear. The duo then look like they`ve both reached a conclusion in the intensity of the moment._

 _(If no option was selected, the game will randomly decide for the player.)_

 **If Grim-Eyes was selected:** "Perhaps you`re right about being a better shot Grim-Eyes. You`ve inevitably used a bow longer than I ever did", Murai suddenly said, recalling how great a few other hyenas were with the aforementioned weapon during the start of the attack (thus coming to a conclusion that Grim-Eyes also had those same skills).

Without hesitating, Grim-Eyes took the bow and sack of arrows from Murai (slinging the latter item over her shoulder like a backpack) while giving her the spear in return. The hyena then gestured the Veiled member to stay behind her and prevent any surprise attacks from hitting while sniffing the air, detecting Boneclaw Mothers scent. Quickly, the duo moved deep into the fight again with Grim-Eyes following the scent and firing away.

 **If Murai was selected:** "You sure you`re a good shot with one of those things?", Grim-Eyes suddenly asked Murai as she nodded towards the weapon the human held. "I`ve managed to hit difficult targets in training and during dangerous missions, so yes I am", Murai replied confidently, slinging the arrow sack over her shoulder like a backpack.

Giving a small nod and hoping it was the right call, Grim-Eyes held her spear tighter than ever as she got behind Murai (basically standing back to back) to protect her from any surprise attacks. Sniffing the air and picking up Boneclaw Mothers scent, the hyena then started directing Murai where to go, prompting the duo to move deep into the fight again with Murai firing away.

 **Mini-game #10:** _ **The Hyena Village Rail Shooter**_

 **Objective:** _ **As Murai or Grim-Eyes, the player will fire arrows at any drones attacking in the style of a rail shooter, keeping the duo from being frozen as they make their way to Boneclaw Mother, Earl and the Alpha Drone leader.**_

 **Controls:**

 _ **-L stick (aim crossbow)**_

 _ **-R2 (fire arrow at target)**_

 _ **-L2 (reload)**_

 **Advice:**

 _ **-The player can shoot five arrows in a row before a pause to reload takes place. Reloading with one to four arrows remaining in the right moment can make or break the chances of getting to the end without a game over.**_

 _ **-Be careful not to shoot any hyenas onscreen (as doing so will cost the player one health point). If a hyena is shot at, an ice blast off screen will encase and levitate the victim before the arrow hits them.**_

 _ **-The player can only take three hits before a game over happens. Stay on your toes and don`t let any drone get you as the level is about three-five minutes long.**_

 _How the segment plays out_ _:_

 _Grim-Eyes and Murai both start making their way to the spot where Boneclaw Mother, Earl and the Alpha disappeared from sight, zigzagging across the area in between to strategically take out all the pursuing drones blocking their way. Before the females reach the spot, they either fail or succeed in saving the first hyena they see in harm's way._

 _When they get to the designated area, which is behind a collapsed home, the two females see the trio in the distance. As they all disappear from sight during a two vs. one brawl (with the Alpha drone apparently closer to winning), the duo continue moving forward, destroying more drones along the way._

 _Out of nowhere, a large drone covering in spikes rams into Grim-Eyes and Murai, sending them falling through a hole to an underground room in a hut. As they get up miraculously unhurt (not even losing a life icon in the process), some hovering drones as well as the spike covered drone reappear in the underground room, forcing the duo to fight back in a semi-dark location. As they finally defeat the spike drone and climb back up, another hyena in peril appears just outside the doorframe, prompting the player to aim carefully to hit the drone said hyena is in front of._

 _As the duo step back outside Grim-Eyes realizes she lost the scent trail of Boneclaw Mother and Earl (with everything going on around not helping clear things up), making her and Murai climb atop another nearby hut. Here, the duo partake in a 360 degree sweep on the roof, fending off all the drones attacking them. As the last drone is put down, Boneclaw Mother is suddenly seen again as some debris is brushed aside by a passing drone. She`s still fighting the Alpha and is seen giving a few quick signals to two passing hyenas while Earl is laying on the ground hurt nearby (having been kicked in between the legs off screen)._

 _Jumping down, the duo manage to steadily make their way to Boneclaw Mother while taking out more drones. Just as it feels like the two females will reach the tribe leader with no conflict, whoever wasn`t picked to have the bow is shot in the back and stunned by an electric attack, sending her down atop her ally and pinning her to the ground._

 _After taking out an electric drone looming over her, Grim-Eyes or Murai destroy the last few drones going after them as the females lay on the ground, with the spear carrier waiting out the stunned effects of the electric shot before managing to get back up._

 _One last hyena to save appears, being chased by three drones. After said hyena escapes or is captured, Murai or Grim-Eyes comment on how they did protecting the other warriors (with saving all three having them say they`re on top of their fighting game while saving none leaves them frustrated) right before they reach the fight between Boneclaw Mother and the Alpha._

 _A brief cutscene will play once Boneclaw Mother is reached: Whoever has the bow will fire their last arrow at the Alpha Drone and will miss, prompting the female to charge forward and swing the bow instead while shouting at Boneclaw Mother to get back._

 _As the one who held onto the spear approaches Earl and helps him get back on his feet, asking Earl if he`s okay (prompting him to say he`s survived way worse), Boneclaw Mother is seen backing away to the duo followed by the female attacking the drone leader, who gets knocked back to the group with a broken bow shaft in hand. She quickly gets up and discards it alongside the arrow sack, facing the Alpha Drone with apprehensiveness._

 _Out of nowhere, Earl walks forward, attempting to switch to a less violent approach for the moment._

As he watched the Alpha Drone rub _her/his_ head looking slightly dazed yet dangerous as ever, Earl awkwardly cleared his throat and said, "Listen, I know this looks bad, but we`re all trying to help you out _Bea/Gregg_. I know you and I haven`t met in person, but I have met two of your friends in Possum Springs, and I know they would beg you to stop what you`re doing".

The Alpha Drone let out an ominous laugh when _she/he_ heard this. "You think everyone here is trying to help? Why did that old sack of bones over there try to poison me with her claws?", _she/he_ said, looking towards Boneclaw Mother while reaching for the freeze pistol, only to realize it was gone (presumably lost during the earlier struggle).

While Grim-Eyes and Murai looked creeped out by the soulless voice the Alpha Drone spoke in, Boneclaw Mother squatted down and wiped her claws in the dirt to clear the poison off them, replying in an apologetic tone, "I`m sorry young _alligator/fox._ It was a lapse in judgement on my part. I didn`t notice the situation you`re currently trapped in, and I can see that now along with the real you that is aching to get out deep down".

"The real me? Cut the sentimental crap and prepare to face your demise. Whoever this real _Beatrice Santello/Gregg Lee_ is, _she`s/he`s_ basically dead and in a new life. Nobody from the old one will even notice _her/him_ gone one way or another", the Alpha Drone angrily stated, trying to signal more drones over while making Earl back away with some intimidation.

As the Alpha suddenly noticed the function wasn`t working and felt the spot on the headband that Murai/Grim-Eyes hit with the crossbow, noticing it had a dent, Earl attempted to reason with the drone leader again (with Murai prepared to back him up while Grim-Eyes helped her grandmother stand up straight again), but stopped when he suddenly heard a voice coming from the communication gear.

"Alpha Drone, what the hell is going on over there? Monitors telling me that you`re sorta starting to lose track of a lot of drones in your current world. It`s a miracle all those other invasions are still working out well", the voice bereted, sounding like a customer who waited too long for service at a restaurant.

As the four in front of _her/him_ observed the distant two-way conversation with their guard up and ready to strike if the situation called for it, the Alpha Drone kept an eye on them (prepared to take anyone out if they stepped one inch closer) while responding, "Forgive me, I`ve suffered from an attack that has left me unable to fully carry out all my abilities".

This news apparently got under the boss's skin, as he started to rant about how careless his only remaining drone leader had gotten and how the damaged section of the headband would affect him personally.

As Earl, Murai and Boneclaw Mother continued to observe silently, showing different emotions (Earl showing fear, Murai showing confusion and Boneclaw Mother being furious at the voice but not showing it), Grim-Eyes suddenly growled in loud enough anger for the boss to hear her.

"Damn it. What`s going on around you? It almost sounds like this filthy dog is within your presence", the boss commented.

"So, the demon within the animal and the true culprit behind this attack has finally showed some of himself. Come over here and face me and the other warriors like a real fighter", Grim-Eyes threatened, ignoring the insult while clutching her spear in hand again, ready to use it.

"Oh and it can talk to! Well, you see doggie girl, I`m afraid I`ll have to deny your request for a face to face meeting. I`m just so comfy sitting in my chair, drinking pinot gris and eating dark chocolate while thinking about my impending win over all the savages around my prized fighter. I almost pity that you`ve had to insult me with your existence", the boss said, speaking through _Bea/Gregg_ in the sleaziest of tones.

Before Grim-Eyes retort, she noticed Murai wanted to say something herself and let her speak, looking around for any approaching danger as she did.

"Excuse me foul person, but what are you doing with all the innocent beings you`ve frozen and lifted from existence? Are you going to harm them some more, wherever they are?", "Oh great. First a dirty hyena talks to me, then a senile looking hag and a piece of trailer trash start gazing at me like I`m a bad guy or something when I`m clearly doing the world a favor. Now this nobody… you know what, I don`t even know why I`m wasting time chatting here", the boss said annoyed, before Boneclaw Mother got his attention next with a curt bark.

"Doing the world a favor and acting like you`re superior to all? I know that type of individual, and you seem to fit the bill perfectly. But what got you to be like this I wonder?", the elder hyena began, making Grim-Eyes look excited when she noticed the tone her grandmother was using.

Unable to resist, she elbowed Murai and Earl and whispered happily to them, "Oh boy, she`s going to do the thing on that bastard. This`ll be good", "Thing? What thing?", Earl whispered back in confusion. "Just watch and see. She`s totally going to creep whoever the other voice is out", Grim-Eyes only said.

"You don`t know anything about me, except that I`ll be the one who`ll destroy everything you ever loved and ensure that you`ll be forgotten about", the boss said through his Alpha Drone as _she/he_ started to pace back and forth relentlessly, wondering when the order to attack would come in. It seemed that all the fighting taking place around had left this area alone, and that was really getting on the drone leaders nerves.

What made the Alpha Drone leader more eager to attack was the fact that the elder hyenas words started getting through to the boss, as he started to sound a bit insecure on the other end while listening (with heavy breathing in a panic attack tone).

"You`re nothing. There were many who were once drawn to you, yet they left you behind to be forgotten for good reason. And the way you`re responding now are basically a childish overreaction, as if you think destroying every bit of good will somehow heal all your wounds", Boneclaw Mother rebuked, smiling as she heard the boss struggle to say something back and fail.

Leaning back towards Grim-Eyes, Earl couldn`t help but whisper, "Guess I know why you were excited. That really sounds like one of the deepest socio-lo…the deepest way to give an insult. She`d probably put my ex-wife to shame", "The thing does sound like a talent, though I fear the fight will start again soon", Murai said back after Grim-Eyes happily nodded to Earl.

The trio noticed at this point that the boss sounded really mad, with some of his words nearly choked out in grief. "I don`t know what you`re talking about you wrinkly old hag! I was never rejected by…Ugh! You know what, that tears it! Alpha Drone, attack her and those other three. Break their necks and then get out of there. We`ll fix your headband as a treat afterwards!", "Affirmative!", the Alpha Drone responded before moving towards the four.

Before Earl, Murai or Grim-Eyes could react, Boneclaw Mother suddenly let out a loud whistle and felt the breeze of several ice blasts fire at the Alpha Drone, nearly hitting _her/him_ as she advanced forward.

Looking around, the trio saw a few of the remaining warriors had come closer to the area and used some of the active and inactive drones against their leader, deflecting an attack and making the metal foes aim and fire at their commander at the perfect moment.

While the steampunk armor protected most of the _alligator's/foxes_ body, some parts of the legs and arms were coated in bits of ice, slowing the foe down to a more reasonable threat level for the time being.

Letting out another signal, Boneclaw Mother had the other hyenas destroy whatever drones they were fighting before moving on to battle elsewhere, knowing that having those hyenas help her some more would leave the tribe at risk of being easily overrun at this point. Besides, she already had all the extra help she needed with her.

As the hyena leader then approached her foe with Grim-Eyes and the humans behind her, ready for another inevitable fight, the Alpha looked at Boneclaw Mother in anger while moving noticeably slower (yet still being dangerous as ever).

"If you think that a few of my own army's attacks will be enough to stop me, you`re really mistaken there!", the Alpha drone leader said as _she/he_ threw a few punches, being strong enough to make Boneclaw Mother back up while not doing much damage, prompting the hyena leader to have the rest of her party stay back for a moment as a precaution.

"I was hoping the blasts would be enough to restrain you, as I doubt you`d be left vulnerable to your own frozen attacks like anyone else out here. And while I underestimated how deflective your armor was, I still say that my new plan is slowing you down long enough for us to stop you", Boneclaw Mother replied, gesturing for the other three to move forward.

Letting out an angry cry, the Alpha Drone did _her/his_ best to counter and strike back at the four, moving the arms and legs around in an attempt to crack the thin yet strong ice. At the same time, the four kept blocking and fighting back, hoping they`d bring down and restrain the army leader in the quickest time possible.

 **Fight 6-3**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

- _Grim-Eyes_

 _-Boneclaw Mother_

 _-Earl_

 _-Murai_

 _ **Opponents:**_

- _Bea/Gregg_ (whoever wasn`t freed from the mind control in the Seinfeld arc)

(This fight is a bit different from the others so far. As the Alpha Drone loses more health, the craftier and quicker the attacks by _her/him_ will be. There`s also more than one moment where an ice drone manages to come in and take over the fight. If the player takes too long to destroy the backup drone to get to the Alpha, the main foe of the fight may recover up to 20% of their health).

 _ **After the fight:**_

Taking on the new Alpha Drone proved to be just as challenging as the four expected this time, with more than a few moments of doubt from everyone (excluding Boneclaw Mother) that they would come out on top after all the ice had chipped off their foesbody, leaving _her/him_ fully active and more aggressive.

However, a split second before the last punch was thrown, it was the Alpha Drone who experienced the last moment of fear in the brawl. First, there was the pain of the attack, followed by the blackness of unconsciousness overtaking _her/his_ vision, and then concluding with the sound of a thump as the body hit the ground, with nothing else coming up for the time.

"Yes! We did it! We defeated the metal machine leader!", Grim-Eyes cheered, nearly jumping up and down with joy as she hugged Boneclaw Mother and Earl, who both caught their breathes while keeping an eye on the out could _alligator/fox._

"I have to admit, that was probably one of the most intense things I did so far today. How did you get all those hyenas to help us take down that _alligator/fox_ earlier?", Earl asked the tribe leader as Grim-Eyes let go of them and reproached the fallen foe cautiously and more seriously, making sure the Alpha Drone leader was truly knocked out.

"Simple, as I fought the metal machines leader and you tried your best to pitch in, a few of my fellow hyenas spotted me. I signaled them to stay back but to find a way to help as well, yada yada yada…the point is, my plan to bring down this foe worked well enough. But now the bigger concern for the animal and the fact that this _Beatrice Santello/Greggory Lee_ is no longer in control of the body really concerns me".

"Yeah, I know. One things for sure, if we manage to find the rest of this _gators/foxes_ friends, they`ll at least be happy to see _her/him_ again, despite the obvious new personality", Earl replied, pondering how to exactly return the Alpha Drones original identity back to _her/him_ as Grim-Eyes briefly ran off and came back with a thick rope, trying to ignore her own sense of exhaustion now.

"I say we make sure this creature is restrained before we try to figure out what to do next with _her/him._ Murai, can you help me out…Murai?", Grim-Eyes asked before seeing her ally look around worriedly.

As her friends and acquaintances noticed the Veiled member again, they immediately saw she was muttering in fear while observing the surrounding area with fear in her eyes.

Murai then turned towards Grim-Eyes, having heard her, and said, "Honored Grim-Eyes, I hate to bring up bad news to you as well as everyone else here, but what are we going to do about the rest of the attacks? It looks like all who remain on our side are running out of strength to fight back".

Right away, any lingering bravado and excitement from the victory left the minds of the other three, as they quickly remembered the whole battle going on around them, and looked around in panic (or just used other senses in Boneclaw Mothers case).

There were still plenty of hyenas moving around and attacking, but the number of them remaining had notably decreased a bit during the brawl with the drone leader.

And as those remaining warriors continued to fight valiantly, it seemed that the inevitable defeat of all of them was slowly creeping up, as every drone that was taken down seemed to beacon two more over while each hyena started to show signs of strain while they kept brawling.

"Oh crap. What do we do now? I don`t think all four of us rejoining the fight will improve the odds. At most, it`ll buy us a few minutes before we`re overrun", Earl said, trying to keep some panic out of his voice while Boneclaw Mothers ears flicked a bit, prompting her to suddenly face another random direction looking surprised.

As the elderly hyena made her observation, Grim-Eyes clenched her spear and growled angrily, scanning the battle while trying to think of a way to turn things towards her tribe's favor with her whole party. However, no idea she thought of felt effective, making her start to feel as worried as Murai and Earl.

"I have an idea. Maybe if these metal machines see we`ve got their leader, they`ll back down or surrender", Earl suddenly suggested, prompting Murai to give a look of doubt towards him.

"We don`t know if these metal things attacking are capable of showing actual concern. They may just continue fighting as hard as ever if they see the _alligator/fox_ in a hostage like scenario", she said as Grim-Eyes looked down towards the Alpha Drone again, trying to spot anything odd about _her/him_ that could potentially help her tribe out.

Before the hyena could get far in the examination however, a bunch of loud battle cries outside the tribe were heard, grabbing everyone's full attention. "What was that? More enemies?", Earl asked in worry, prompting Boneclaw Mother to shake her head no.

"My ears already know these metal machines don`t make sounds like that. The cries sound like they belong to many human's familiar to us", the elder replied, a few moments before plenty of Murai`s Veiled group ran into the tribe with weapons drawn and ready to strike, much to Murai`s surprise.

The other hyenas were alarmed for a moment when they got a good look at the approaching Veiled, thinking that the hostile humans would attack them too.

However, when those humans started to strike back at the drones instead, helping balance the fight out a bit more, a lot of relief came to the tribemates as they all began fighting with an energetic second wind themselves.

Feeling her own second wind come to her too, Grim-Eyes felt the blood pump through her veins as she prepared to go back into the action.

Just as she was about to order Earl to get Boneclaw Mother somewhere safer and tell Murai to follow her into the battle, another loud cry hit her ears, only this one was more familiar.

It was so unexpected and out of nowhere, the hyena didn`t know if she really heard it, though the sight of her grandmother, Earl and Murai looking equal surprised convinced her otherwise.

Urgently scanning the battle, Grim-Eyes spotted the familiar sight of a certain wombat first, witnessing her swinging a pickaxe at any foe that dared to get near her while shouting, "REMEMBER TUNNEL 17!" (which was some sort of wombat lore related mantra), at the top of her lungs.

As the hyena warrior found herself run over and gesture for her group to follow her, taking down a drone as she did, Murai and Boneclaw Mother stayed right behind her while Earl staying back for a few moments to sloppily tie the unconscious _alligator/fox_ to the nearest thing he could find.

[ _Across the battlefield_ ]

The second Digger had ran into the tribe ready to fight like never before, she looked around and hoped to see Grim-Eyes and Boneclaw Mother right away, as the sight of some frozen hyenas vanishing in midair made her unintentionally ponder what the odds were that it was someone she knew.

"Blood and shale, stop thinking about statistics and probabilities of their survival. You`ll probably decrease your own chances of making it out unfrozen by 30% at the very least", the wombat found herself say aloud as she ducked to avoid an ice blast and hit the closest hovering drone she could get to.

Out of nowhere, an electric drone that was stabbed by a hyena flew back and rammed into the wombat, sending her to the ground while her pickaxe flew from her hands, landing a few yards away. As Digger frantically crawled towards it, hoping nothing would notice her, she suddenly saw a random ice drone nearby spot her and aim at her head.

Before Digger could experience the part where her life flash before her eyes, she suddenly saw something leap onto the drone targeting her and attack it aggressively, literally tearing it to pieces. "Mother of moles…", Digger said before she felt someone else lift her up from behind.

The second she got back on her feet, the wombat nearly felt her heart stop in shock as she looked at the fully alert yet happy faces of Murai and Boneclaw Mother.

While the shock Digger felt transformed into a mix of joyous relief and renewed alertness, Boneclaw Mother patted Digger on the shoulder and said, "Mother of Little Earthquakes, I welcome you back to our home. It has been quite a long time since we`ve last seen each other", before she turned around and slugged an electric drone that tried to ambush her from behind.

"Honored Digger, I see you had made it to the safety of the village. Jhalm didn`t give you any problems, did he?", Murai asked as she picked up the wombat's pickaxe and swung it at a drone, admiring the critical damage it did for a moment before returning it to the owner (while finishing off said drone with a kick).

"Jhalm didn`t do anything drastic that time (at least towards me). On the contrary, he`s really putting that aggression towards something useful now, so there`s that", Digger found herself say as she glanced towards the Veiled leader, who was fighting valiantly and pragmatically against more than one drone.

As Digger finished her observation and focused more on what was close by, the drone that tried to attack her earlier was finally destroyed, allowing the hyena that saved her to come on over and personally welcome her back too.

"Grim-Eyes! Good to see you again. I`ve missed you so much!", Digger exclaimed as her adoptive sister gave her an awkward hug, with the funny look Murai gave not affecting the mood in the slightest.

"I`m so happy to see you too weird earth rat. When we all thought something happened to you in the woods at the hands of a stranger, I was really worried that you`d met a cruel fate", Grim-Eyes said as she sadly ended the hug, returning her undivided attention towards any nearby foes.

"Yeah, I`m happy that I`m still around too", Digger replied, striking down some enemies with her reunited friends and family while deciding to withhold sharing most of the bad stuff that happened to her in the previous years. There was no need to taint this reunion even further with old worries, yet a recent bad event replayed in her head as she left a huge dent on a nearby ice drone.

"Hey Grim-Eyes, how did the tribe end up with my pickaxe? Considering it was stolen by this creature and returned by one of your tribemates, I have a feeling there`s an interesting story behind that", "Talk to that odd human involved. Bet he will be able to tell you most of the key details", Grim-Eyes said, pointing in a specific direction without looking as she brawled with another drone (and nearly sank her teeth into it alongside her spear).

Glancing in said direction, Digger got another surprise the moment she saw Earl approach her and the others. A matching expression appeared on Earls face when he spotted the wombat, though he didn`t say anything to her at first, due to Boneclaw Mother needing his help for a moment.

After the group of five moved back for a tactical advantage against the drones, Earl and Digger continued to struggle thinking of something to say to one another, prompting Boneclaw Mother to start the conversation for them.

"Digger, I`d like you to meet Earl. My granddaughter found him in the woods not long after your presumed first encounter", "When I saw him with your pickaxe, I ended up thinking he harmed you or something. You weren't in the area after all", Grim-Eyes added as she helped Murai dodge an attack, earning a look of annoyance from Boneclaw Mother. There was no need for extra commentary at the moment.

Finding his voice first, Earl glanced at Digger apologetically and said, "Look, I`m sorry about what happened in the forest earlier. I just went through two attacks in separate dimensions so I was sorta stressed at the time. Then this talking slug offered to tell me my fortune and I was looking for a leaf to have it spelled out for me when I ran into you…Now that I`ve said that aloud, it sounds like the weirdest thing ever".

To his surprise, Digger, as well as the hyenas and Murai, ended up letting out a quick laugh, much to his confusion. "You truly arn`t from this world, are you? I`ve encountered many stranger things the last time I was in this place, and I can vouch my companions have had their own oddity encounters", the wombat explained before she swung her pickaxe again, deflecting an electric blast.

"Really? Like what?", Earl asked before glancing towards the last place he left the Alpha Drone, wondering if _she/he_ was there and if the restraints were somehow working in case _she/he_ woke up.

Thinking for a moment, Digger struggled to give a good answer and wound up saying, "Well…this vampire squash tried to hump my leg once", prompting Earl to let out a giggle while giving her a "seriously?", look.

"Glad to see you two are starting to come around from your bad first impression. Speaking of those, I guess me and the tribe do owe you an official apology for keeping you here", Grim-Eyes stated. "Apology accepted. Though I`m more thankful you didn`t just eat me alive right away. That could have been worse", Earl replied as he and Murai took down a drone together.

"No, eating you alive wouldn`t have been the worst thing we could have done. Personally, boiling you alive in a kettle would`ve been a more painful way to go", Boneclaw Mother ended up saying, making Earl suddenly look startled. Grim-Eyes give her an annoyed look and say, "I don`t know what embarrasses me more, your morbid descriptions or your dirty mind".

"Hey, it`s my own way of starting a pardon to the man. He`s free to leave if he wants now, though I`m guessing that point is moot", Boneclaw Mother replied while giving Earl a supportive smile; glad that her gut feeling about the him being innocent was proven correct.

 **Earl narrating:** "It was nice to hear that I was no longer on anyone's bad side, since it meant I`d had one less worry to fret about. And to top it off, I had some new friends/ally`s to get through this fight. It felt like things would only look up from this moment on".

 **Scene shown:** _Earl is shown giving Boneclaw Mother an awkward smile back before moving aside to help Murai and Digger. As he defeats a drone with the two females, a look of confidence appears on his face. He then notes how the two hyenas are fighting behind him and starts to feel flawless victory is in the bag for him and his group._

As the last remaining drone near the group got destroyed, Grim-Eyes noticed Earl was about to ask her something when a thrown rock came out of nowhere and struck him in the head, sending the human to the ground looking dazed.

Before any of the four could react, another rock was thrown and hit Murai near the same spot, sending her to the ground unconscious as well.

"Murai!", Digger exclaimed as she squatted down and examined the injury her friend received. Grim-Eyes approached the humans with alarm and squatted down next to the wombat while Boneclaw Mother urgently looked around, trying to pinpoint the attacker.

A split second later, another hyena ran up to Boneclaw Mother and grabbed her from behind, looking like she was trying to strangle the tribe leader. "You worthless excuse for a hyena! Die! Die! Die!", the new hyena shouted insanely as Boneclaw Mother fought back aggressively.

Looking up in alarm, Digger and Grim-Eyes started to get back up and come to Boneclaw Mothers aid when the attacking hyena managed to throw the elder aside and into the wall of another hut like a rag doll.

Seeing her elder hyena on the ground and in pain made Grim-Eyes and Digger stop and glare at their foe. "What the hell did you do that for?! If she ends up dying…", Grim-Eyes began as she tried to look for the right moment to kill the other hyena.

Out of nowhere, the other hyena grabbed a lot of dust and flung it at the duo. As Grim-Eyes coughed and Digger tried to clear her eyes, the hyena known as Bloodtail charged with a knife drawn.

In the blink of an eye, she managed to kick Digger aside (near the area where The Hag had patched her up earlier) and had Grim-Eyes on the ground, fighting to avoid having her throat slit by the weapon.

"You…monster…Why are you even trying to kill us with so many enemies around?", Grim-Eyes managed to say to her aunt through gritted teeth as she continued to fight back.

Letting out the laugh of a truly mad hyena, Bloodtail replied, "This is the end of the tribe as we know it, which means the end of me will be inevitable sooner or later. Might as well make sure the five remaining banes of my existence are dead first, just like Ed", before trying even harder to kill her niece.


	52. Digger- Finale

Right after she was kicked in the most sensitive spot on her arm following the cliff tumble accident, a wave of teeth gritting pain came to Digger, making her feel so hurt she could barely sit up. As she tried to see clearly past her now blurred vision, the wombat found herself weakly call out for anyone to help.

Almost immediately, Digger heard Grim-Eyes snarl and struggle not too far away and turned in the direction of the voice, attempting to make out what was going on amid the blur of movements alongside the steadily receding pain.

As she carefully managed to get back on her feet, the wombat found her vision clear up enough to give her a good view of the hyena's situation. And once she saw what was going on with Grim-Eyes, a sense of alarm hit Digger instantly.

In the short amount of time the wombat was down, Bloodtail had managed to pin her niece to the ground and was now attempting to stab her in the neck with her knife, coming gleefully closer to her kill by the second.

Grim-Eyes in turn struggled to keep her aunts weapon away from her flesh, barely holding the knife back with one hand while trying to reach for her nearby spear with the other, with her fingers slightly brushing against the handle in every attempt. Feeling desperate (as if she knew exactly how many seconds she had left to live), Grim-Eyes then called for anyone to help, prompting Bloodtail to taunt her again.

Without wasting time, Digger grabbed her nearby pickaxe and moved towards the two hyenas. As she did, she looked aside for a brief moment and noticed Earl, Murai and Boneclaw Mother were still on the ground, having not moved an inch and showing no signs of consciousness after Bloodtails ambush. This made Digger hope they were just unconscious (and not dead) before shaking those thoughts off for the moment, focusing on the party member that needed the most help right away.

When she was close enough, the wombat raised her weapon and aimed the sharp pickaxe tip at Bloodtails shoulder, letting out a battle cry and catching her foe off guard. This moment gave Grim-Eyes the opportunity to knock the knife away from her aunt's hand, but Bloodtail recovered fast and delivered a hard punch to the younger hyena's head in retaliation before rolling off her.

As Grim-Eyes was temporary stunned from the hard attack, Bloodtail grabbed the nearby spear and focused all her attention on the charging wombat, letting old distant hatred for the creature dictate her thoughts as she waited for the perfect moment to strike. When said moment came, she swung the spear like a baseball bat and aimed for the head.

At the last moment, Digger saw what was coming and attempted to counter the attack at what felt like a pretty close range.

 **Prompt: Circle button**

 **Pressed in time:** _Managing to channel her tunneling reflexes at her own perfect moment, Digger swung her pickaxe and deflected the spear swing. The impact of the counter was so hard, she and Bloodtail found themselves stumble back briefly with the pickaxe flying from the formers hands._

 _Before Digger could even carry out her next move, Bloodtail pounced forward again and swung the spear at the wombat`s leg, knocking her to one knee and easily grabbing her by the neck. "Stay still this time and die!", the mad hyena shouted as she aimed the spear directly at her prey's head. "Blood and shale…", Digger could only say in horror as she struggled, realizing she didn`t have time to fully evade the next attack._

 **Failed to press:** _Unfortunately for Digger, she found herself swing the pickaxe a second too late, which got her a spear smack to the mouth. Before she could recover, Bloodtail then kicked the pickaxe out of the wombat's hand and delivered a kick to her gut, sending her foe to her knees._

" _Blood and shale…and I thought the first hit from you hurt the worst", the wombat commented aloud as she clutched her stomach, trying not to let the pain overwhelm her again. Grinning at the harm she caused to the pest in front of her, Bloodtail didn`t respond and instead rose the spear at the wombat's head, ready to fatally impale her this time._ **(Digger: -10% health)**

Without warning, Grim-Eyes suddenly pounced off the ground (managing to shake off the impact of the punch in the nick of time) and sunk her teeth into Bloodtails shoulder. Bloodtail let out a loud holler and stumbled away from the wombat, swinging the spear so wildly and haphazardly that it flew from her hands, allowing Grim-Eyes to easily take it back.

For a moment, Digger watched in disbelief as the two hyenas started clawing and biting at one another (with Grim-Eyes swinging her weapon a few times), spilling some blood in the process. Once she managed to snap out of her shock, the wombat then got ready to come into the brawl and aid Grim-Eyes, only for the hyena to stop her as she blocked several punches being thrown at her head.

"Go help Boneclaw Mother and those two humans! I`ll handle this monster on my own from here!", "Are you sure!?", Digger asked as she looked back and forth from Grim-Eyes and Bloodtail to the injured trio, with Murai starting to show signs of life by moving her arms slightly and trying to get up. "Earth Rat! Help those three now!", Grim-Eyes ordered in a near booming tone as she and Bloodtail both grabbed onto the spear and started to tumble away from the area towards the main battle, still clawing aggressively at each other.

Deciding not to argue, Digger turned towards the rest of her party and rushed over to them, hoping Grim-Eyes would make it out of the fight with nobody to help her this time.

The wombat approached Murai first and knelt next to her, examining how hurt the Veiled member was as she managed to sit up looking dazed.

As Murai faintly asked what happened, barely able to remember the blow to her head, and tried to get an update on how the surrounding battle was going, Digger told her to stay still and continued inspecting the head injury, taking off her backpack and pulling out the medical supplies the Hag had given her earlier as she did.

While she started to gently tend to the injury, the wombat did her best to block out all the noise around her, nearly feeling a new kind of insanity get to her. "Where…where is Grim-Eyes? Wasn`t she here a moment ago?", Murai suddenly asked, looking around the area. "She`s taking care of something personally. It won`t be long till she returns", Digger replied, trying not to have any worry creep in her voice.

Thankfully, the sudden sight of Earl and Boneclaw Mother stirring made that task a bit easier, giving the wombat an optimistic thought that everyone was walking out of a tight scenario alive this time.

As Digger continued working on Murai`s injuries, she asked the other human and elderly hyena how they were feeling, prompting Earl to murmur about someone named Randy and a motel room that needed to clean for a friend named Catalina. Boneclaw Mother only scoffed and said she didn`t need any pity, trying to get back up on her own only to have some inner pain keep her down.

A bit of a distance away from the four, Grim-Eyes and Bloodtail stopped tumbling near another area that wasn`t in the main warzone (though notably closer to it, with Grim-Eyes able to note some details amid the hyena/Veiled armies battle with the drones (like how the number of attacking metal foes had fallen, with the two allied parties on the verge of pushing back)) and continued their one on one fight, both still trying to take the spear for themselves while throwing quick attacks at their opponent.

Grim-Eyes threw two claw swipes at her aunt with her free hand, barely landing the first on an arm and completely missing the second. Bloodtail in turn threw a kick that was so pathetic and feeble, Grim-Eyes thought a cub could do better as she shifted a little to block it. She then realized the kick was a distraction as her opponent attempted to head butt her next, having spotted a direct opening caused by the feeble block.

 **Prompt: Circle button**

 **Pressed in time:** _Without missing a beat, Grim-Eyes managed to brace herself and deflected the attack before it could get to her. As a look of surprise appeared on Bloodtails face (not expecting her foe to block her that quick), Grim-Eyes did her own unexpected move and head butted her back, making her let go of the spear and stumble back._

 **Failed to press:** _How Grim-Eyes managed to keep her hands on the spear afterward, she didn`t know as the head butt that her aunt threw landed perfectly, nearly causing her fly back. "What`s the matter? You too exhausted to fight back? Even your mother would at least show more energy when she hurt Ed", Bloodtail taunted, making Grim-Eyes throw a hard and rage filled uppercut that sent her opponent stumbling back without the spear._ **(Grim-Eyes: -10% health)**

As Bloodtail staggered back up straight, laughing insanely to herself at this point, Grim-Eyes approached her feeling ready to finish the fight once and for all (as there were much more important things to focus on besides the sad excuse for a warrior in front of her). However, when Bloodtail made eye contact with her and started talking, she managed to catch her niece off guard with what she brought up.

"Oh Blood-Eyes…my sweet yet insane sister…why couldn`t that skin painter have been with me instead of you? We both know I deserved to have him. After all, I was always smarter and better than you", Bloodtail said, looking at Grim-Eyes as if she were actually seeing the deceased hyena she spoke of, her own take on reality warping her mind.

"Don`t you dare speak my parents' names…You didn`t deserve to be with my father then, and you sure as hell don`t deserve to be in the tribe any longer", Grim-Eyes only said with suppressed rage, brushing off the flimsy attempt at pity.

Before she could resume the plan of ending things between her and the mad hyena, Grim-Eyes noticed three nearby drones freeze a Veiled member who was taking on all of them at once. After the human levitated and vanished in the air, the three drones spotted Grim-Eyes and took aim at her next. At this point, Bloodtail (not noticing the approaching danger) snapped out of her brief delusion and got ready to resume her own attack, putting the younger warrior on edge.

After three ice blasts were fired at her, Grim-Eyes felt like time slowed down momentarily. She realized she could easily dodge the blasts themselves, but there were many ways of doing the simple move that gave Bloodtail another opening to potentially kill her.

Deciding to take the most direct approach as the three blasts closed in, Grim-Eyes faced her charging aunt and pounced forward, hoping the set of claws and teeth aimed at her wouldn`t strike anywhere fatal should she fail.

 **Prompt: Circle button**

 **Pressed in time:** _Luckily, Grim-Eyes did not fail in dodging all the attacks. As the three blasts missed by what felt like a mile, the younger hyena reacted quickly to the other threat and shielded herself by using the spear, blocking Bloodtails claws and bite and nearly sending her down on the ground. For a split second, Bloodtail looked startled, possibly impressed even, by the move. However, that all faded back to the murderous rage already present as she continued her plan to kill, reigniting the fight between the duo back to its full force._

 **Failed to press:** _The good news for Grim-Eyes was that she managed to avoid all three blasts in her risky dodge. The bad news was that she failed to use her spear in time against Bloodtail, earning several painful scratches and even a bite on the arm before she recovered from her misstep. Despite the newly inflicted damage however, Grim-Eyes found herself reignite the fight to full force with her attacks, determined not to go down easily to her aunt like a basic prey._ **(Grim-Eyes: -10% health)**

As their metallic comrades were starting to be pushed away from the village territory by the Veiled and hyenas, with said united army following them to make sure none were left to regroup immediately, the three drones targeting Grim-Eyes started to move in closer for another attempt to capture her when a random arrow struck and destroyed one of them.

The other two drones turned around and spotted a slightly injured Veiled member holding the bow. Said Veiled member, who was basically alone, got ready to take down the other two metal foes when he realized he`d run out of arrows. As he changed tactics and tried to get away, barely dodging all the blasts fired at him, Grim-Eyes heard his cries for help and looked towards him in alarm.

Seeing a male vulnerable (even if he was a human) became too much of a horrifying sight for the younger hyena to ignore. Quickly, she did another risky move and used her spear to hit Bloodtail in the knee, stunning her long enough to get away and aid the human (as it looked like the Veiled was about to get frozen any second, making Grim-Eyes forget she had an easy chance to kill her foe as she rushed over).

Before Bloodtail could get up and follow her target again (while cursing about how she easily allowed herself to get hit) she suddenly heard a set of familiar footsteps approach amid all the noises. Turning her head, the mad hyena growled at the new sight of Digger, who was unknowingly running towards her location holding her knife in one hand and the recovered pickaxe in the other.

After a moment of thought, Bloodtail suddenly decided to take a subtler approach at killing one of her enemies this time and looked around for cover. Spotting some tall ruins of another home, she immediately ducked out of sight behind it a split second before she got noticed.

As she stayed in a crouched position, still and quiet, the mad hyena heard the wombat stop running and start looking around frantically less than ten feet from the hiding place, calling out Grim-Eyes name a few times. Despite having the urge to attack right away, Bloodtail strained to keep her cover and waited for the right moment. That wombat would be dead by her claw sooner or later anyway.

"Grim-Eyes!...Mother of moles, don`t tell me Bloodtail killed her…", Digger shouted before muttered worriedly to herself. Every moment that passed without her friend in sight made the anxiety within grow, as the wombat saw nobody except for a few remaining hyenas in the distance (none of which were the hyena she was looking for).

After another few seconds passed, Digger got herself ready to run and look elsewhere (not aware of the enemy observing her and secretly begging her to move a little closer) when a loud clanging noise in front of her went off, giving her a good scare and grabbing her full attention.

Grim-Eyes and the Veiled member she managed to save came into view, both brandishing a spear and doing steady damage to two drones who were attacking them. Digger exhaled a short sigh of relief and got ready to join the battle this time, eager to use her pickaxe and cause more than a few dents to those pesky foes, when Grim-Eyes looked in her direction and became alarmed.

"Earth rat, behind you!", Grim-Eyes managed to shout before one of the drones slammed into her, nearly knocking her down. This got Grim-Eyes to temporarily refocus all her attention on the pair of enemies, trying to take them down as quickly as she could with the human.

Turning her head back after hearing the warning, a similar look of alarm came to Diggers face when she saw Bloodtail burst out of cover and pounce directly at her. Thinking fast, the wombat formulated a random and unorganized plan, hoping her out of style process would help in avoiding any damage.

 **Prompt: X button**

 **Pressed in time:** _Without missing a beat, Digger dove to the right and successfully evaded Bloodtail, though she accidently dropped the knife in the process. As the mad hyena recovered from the miss, clearly infuriated, a voice in Diggers head commented that such a simple dodge didn`t need that much planning._

 _Digger was about to give a lengthy retort to the voice, involving the process of selecting a good direction to dodge and how much force she needed to use to slide away, when Bloodtail moved forward swinging her claws. As the wombat started to back towards Grim-Eyes, hoping she wouldn`t still be in the middle of a conflict, the mad hyena picked up her knife and examined the gleam eagerly for a moment before turning her attention back to the wombat._

 **Failed to press:** _Before Diggers plan could come into action however, Bloodtail ended up slamming into the wombat and clawed at her face, creating a few bloody cuts. The mad hyena would have messed up her opponent even more, but Diggers reacted quickly by using her pickaxe to slam her foes head, causing the knife to fly out of her hand while her opponent fell off to the side, dazed for a moment._

 _As Bloodtail recovered and took her knife back (happily admiring it for a moment), Digger got up and steadily started to back away towards Grim-Eyes, not taking her eyes off her opponent as she advanced at a steady pace towards her. As she got closer to the less dangerous hyena, Digger hoped her friend would have the chance to help her out this time._ **(Digger: -10%)**

By the time Digger reached Grim-Eyes, both metal drones she had been fighting were destroyed to the point where they were barely recognizable.

As the hyena turned towards the wombat with mixed emotions, the Veiled member who fought alongside Grim-Eyes turned and sprinted towards the forest to aid the rest of his group, feeling eager to destroy more of the machines. Grim-Eyes didn`t bat an eye or show any notice of his actions though, as her gaze shifted from her companion to her approaching aunt, who suddenly looked like she`d managed to recover all her stamina.

"You`d better back down now Bloodtail. At this point, I feel the tribe would justify my actions if I killed you", Grim-Eyes threatened ( _if Digger succeeded in the last QTE: …_ as she pointed her spear, showing she meant what she stated/ _if Digger failed in the last QTE:_ …as she noticed the claw marks on Diggers face and felt another big wave of anger come to her).

"I`d hate to ruin some of your threats momentum Grim-Eyes, but it`s safe to say Bloodtail isn`t going to consider backing down at this point", Digger commented, actually shivering for a second when she looked into Bloodtails eyes, seeing her violent nature in every corner within.

Letting out another wicked laugh as she moved back and forth (as if to intimidate her foes into thinking she`d strike at any moment), Bloodtail said in a mad tone, "Try talking me down all you want. Your corpses will make this dour area look better when I finish with you", and then charged forward, prompting the hyena and wombat duo to do the same.

Grim-Eyes and Bloodtail both let out their tribe's battle cries and Digger shouted, "REMEMBER TUNNEL 17!", before the highly intense fight started back up again.

 **Fight 6-4:**

 _ **Fighters to select:**_

 _-Digger_

 _-Grim-Eyes_

 _ **Opponent:**_

 _-Bloodtail_

 _ **After the fight:**_

As the hyena/Veiled alliances battle against the drones started to near the conclusion (with less than two dozen drones fighting back at this point), Grim-Eyes and Digger nearly threw their last attack against Bloodtail simultaneously and watched with some secret glee as she hit the ground with a thud, out cold and no longer a threat to anyone.

Taking a few deep breathes and trying not to give in to some muscle pain, Digger said, "Well, I think we`d best tie this sorry excuse for a lifeform up and…Grim-Eyes, where are you going?", before seeing her friend rush elsewhere, not interested in staying to hear what she had to say.

Looking from Bloodtail to Grim-Eyes, Digger sighed and ran after her friend, concerned about why she was acting the way she did. Finding herself glance back towards Bloodtail one last time before weaving through the ruined area, the wombat privately hoped that the fight had done enough to keep the mad hyena down (specifically, long enough to stay unconscious when she came back to properly restrain her).

Once Digger was out of sight, one of Bloodtails eyes suddenly opened in what could be described as a dramatic fashion, with her right hand gripping the knife she`d managed to cling onto through the whole fight.

[ _Near the area of Bloodtails ambush_ ]

As soon as Digger caught up with Grim-Eyes, she asked where she was going. "Back to Boneclaw Mother and the two humans. They`ve probably had nobody to help them after you left, despite what I clearly ordered earlier. If something were to happened…", "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Calm down and let me explain my actions: After you left and I started to take care of everyone, Murai managed to recover quickly enough, to the point where she started helping out with the other two injured parties. As we worked on Earl and Boneclaw Mothers injuries, Murai could tell I was worried about you facing someone as unpredictable as Bloodtail alone, and that lead her to tell me to go and help you", Digger replied, looking around for any danger as she tried to defuse the hyenas hostility.

Cooling down just slightly, Grim-Eyes acknowledged Diggers reasoning but replied in a slightly cold tone, "I just hope those three didn`t get ambushed by another metal machine while we were gone. Even with Murai back on her feet, she`d have a near impossible task of defending herself with two nearby patients down".

"Then I suggest staying cautiously optimistic. After that tight spot back there, surely something good is due", Digger only replied, with the worry of what was to come up ahead sinking quickly into her subconscious, to the point where her fear mirrored Grim-Eyes`.

As soon as the duo reached the area where they`d left Earl, Murai and Boneclaw Mother behind, they noticed none of them were in sight, prompting them to look around urgently. "Boneclaw Mother! Boneclaw Mother! Please answer me!", Grim-Eyes nearly shouted as Digger noticed some tossed aside rope before moving on, unaware those bindings had been around the Alpha Drone leaders arms earlier.

After a minute of searching had passed, Grim-Eyes and Digger looked like they had no idea what to do next. "Perhaps they went out into the forest to take cover?", Digger suggested, sounding like she was out of ideas already, as frustration came over Grim-Eyes.

Before she could call out how it was near impossible for the trio to make it all the way to the forest in their state (let alone another area of the tribe that wasn`t heavily damaged), a voice from behind nearly made her jump out of her fur.

"I`m a bit disappointed in you Grim-Eyes and Mother of Little Earthquakes. I know how important I am to the two of you, but you shouldn`t let my absence be distracting in the urgent times of a surrounding fight, let alone start turning against one another", Boneclaw Mother said before coming into sight with the two humans. The elder hyena was leaning against Earl a little for support while Murai lead the way in front, keeping an eye out for any remaining danger.

Right away, a sense of relief came to Digger and Grim-Eyes while a sense of alarm came to Murai, who got a good look at the damage the duo had received during their earlier fight. As she hurried forward and examined some claw and bite marks on them, insisting they don`t move too much in order to properly examine them, the wombat asked how everyone else was holding up.

"The damage that Bloodtail inflicted on all three of us isn`t going to be permanent. On the contrary Honored Digger, it's simply a miracle that we all just need to take it easy for a while to properly heal", Murai replied before she pulled out the remains of the Hags medical supplies and started to use them on her two patients.

"Yeah, I couldn`t believe how we were all able to shake things off that easily too. Then again, considering all the injuries I received back in Camden while doing my karma list and Murai and Boneclaw Mothers pasts, I`d say we all got stronger over the years without realizing it", Earl added as he and Boneclaw Mother reached everyone, with the male human scanning the surroundings for someone else.

Grim-Eyes looked at her tribe leader and almost stepped forward to hug her, but the stern tone the elder displayed (alongside the bandages on her chest) had her stay back. After giving Digger a quick apologetic look, which appeased Boneclaw Mother as the wombat herself gave a similar look back, Grim-Eyes found herself asking what happened here while she the earth rat were gone.

"Oh, nothing special really. Murai patched the three of us up and then we all moved somewhere that felt safer nearby. But enough about me and my boring stories (thanks Earl, but I feel fine enough to walk on my own), I want to hear what happened to you", Boneclaw Mother replied, moving away from Earl and standing up fine herself.

Without wasting a second, Grim-Eyes told her grandmother what had happened, with Digger occasionally quipping a snarky comment here and there. As Murai finished covering up the last of the wounds on the two animals and Earl walked forward to look at the place where Digger saw the restraints, the younger hyena got to the part where Bloodtail was defeated, giving Boneclaw Mother a mixed reaction.

"I`m glad to hear that disgraceful, vain adult is down, but is she restrained?", the elder hyena asked. "Wait, what?", Grim-Eyes replied, prompting Digger to start rushing back to the place where they left her. "I know how Bloodtail fights better than everyone. Sometimes during training in a mock battle, she would feign unconsciousness to get a potential surprise attack on her nearby enemies", Boneclaw Mother explained, prompting the look of worry to reappear on Grim-Eyes.

Before anyone could react or follow Digger (who was now out of sight), Earl came back looking like he`d seen a ghost. "That _alligator/fox_ we fought earlier… _she`s/he`s gone_! There isn`t a sign of _her/him_ anywhere. Damn! If only I`d tied that captured animal up properly", he said, rubbing his head in frustration near the bandaged area.

"Earl, calm down. Panicking won`t help you or anyone out", Murai said, approaching Earl to make sure he didn`t damage the bandages. As Boneclaw Mother and Grim-Eyes observed her, taking in all the information while trying to figure out what their next move should be, the mad hyena suddenly appeared from behind in a distance.

With her scent masked by the apocalyptic environment and footsteps so quiet even the tribe leader couldn`t detect them right away, Bloodtail raised her knife and approached Boneclaw Mother stealthily, going in for what would feel like the best kill in her whole life. Even if she`d die in the process by everyone else nearby, it`d be entirely worth it.

Out of nowhere, Digger suddenly came back towards her group with news that Bloodtail wasn`t where she and Grim-Eyes had left her. She was prepared to make the announcement, getting the other fours attention, when she saw Bloodtail and shouted out a warning.

As Digger prepped her pickaxe and started to run towards Bloodtail (seeing her approach the other tribe members and easily figuring out her plan), the aforementioned hyena yelled and sprinted towards Boneclaw Mother, dropping her stealth tactic.

In the span of a few seconds, Digger was still running to protect her friends, Earl backed away looking completely caught off guard by the next ambush and tripped over a piece of debris and Murai suddenly looked like she was having her personal inner demons scare her again (as her familiar mumbling was heard).

Grim-Eyes tried to counter Bloodtail when she got close enough, but her opponent thought fast and managed to fling a pawful of dirt in her eyes, knocking her off guard and allowing her to be easily kicked aside with a strong blow to the stomach.

As Grim-Eyes fell to her knees, trying to clear her vision while recovering her breathe, Bloodtail grabbed Boneclaw Mother by the neck and tried to hold her still, gloating aloud how perfect the moment was going to play out for her as she watched her victim struggle in her grip. Nobody nearby (not the wombat rushing over or the male human recovering from his scare and getting up to take action) would be quick enough to save her, the mad hyena thought as she aimed the knife in between the spot where the elder's eyes once were.

Out of nowhere, a loud booming sound was heard from above. It was so sudden that everyone, including Bloodtail, stopped what they were doing and looked up in complete confusion.

From a cloud of electricity, what looked like an old man on a bike emerged and came downward, cheering excitedly and doing a complex midair flip that would make a professional stuntman jealous of the level of skill.

Sensing that her foe was distracted, Boneclaw Mother managed to slip out of Bloodtails grip and dragged her niece out of harm's way without making much of a sound; not that Bloodtail noticed anyway since she too busy looking up and trying to process the random event.

It wasn`t until the last second that Bloodtail realized she was about to be used as a landing pad for the bike. Before she could get out of the way like everyone else around her did, the mad hyena felt the agonizing impact of the mostly metal transportation device slam her to the ground, with the old man bouncing harmlessly off her as he continued to ride on.

As the old man sped past a startled Digger, waving and cheering atop his somehow still perfectly intact bike, Earl ran up and stopped next to the wombat to observe in recollection. "Well I`ll be damned. It`s him again", he said quietly as he watched the familiar bicyclist go out of sight towards the center of the tribe area.

"Wait, "him again"? You`ve seen this guy before?", Digger asked in a baffled tone while Murai recovered from her dark phase quickly this time, looking thankful that Boneclaw Mother wasn`t hurt by her inability to take action.

"It`s a short but somehow complicated story…and there he goes again", Earl said before he witnessed an electric flash in the distance, guessing that the old man had vanished into thin air again. Digger looked ready to speculate some theories as to how the event was possible, when the sound of painful moaning got her and the male humans full attention.

Turning around, the duo saw Bloodtail laying on the ground in pain, with two of her ribs actually sticking out of her semi-crushed guts. Boneclaw Mother and Grim-Eyes, who got over the unexpected humans appearance quicker than the other three, loomed ominously over her with their full attention; hostility radiating their expressions and making Bloodtail look uneasy and insecure.

As Murai approached the hyenas and stood with her allies, she silently gestured Digger and Earl to come over, which they did. Once they were with the rest of the group, the duo ended up giving a similar expression to Bloodtail, prompting her to try and launch a bloody spit at them (and failed).

"You…you worthless prey….you stupid male…bastard….", Bloodtail managed to say to Digger, Earl and Grim-Eyes before her niece gave her a kick to the ribs, causing her to cry out in agony.

Once she felt Bloodtail had recovered enough from the kick, Boneclaw Mother started to speak in an eerily calm voice. As she talked, the rest of her team found themselves automatically back away in fear and awe, as every word spoken from the leader to the traitor managed to get their fur/skin crawling.

"After all your sins and misdeeds, you finally crossed the line one too many times today. Not just towards me, Grim-Eyes and our welcomed friends, but to your whole tribe. Every wicked thought, every evil action and every petty sin has put you right where you are. What do you have to say for yourself?", "Go…go to hell…", Bloodtail hissed, trying to sit up and throw a punch, only to miss by a mile and end up on the ground with a third rib sticking out.

As Digger tried not to feel queasy from the bones, Earl found himself whisper to Murai, "What`s she going to do?"

Grim-Eyes suddenly gestured for him and Murai to stay quiet, not taking her eyes off the event as she knew what was about to happened, thanks heavily in part to a familiar and tragic story.

Boneclaw Mother found herself glance back at the observing four, as if to hear any suggestions/advice about what needed to be done. Earl suddenly forgot Grim-Eyes warning and said, "Just to let you know, Bloodtail ruined Ed`s grave earlier today. Me and Grim-Eyes were going to tell you…but you know what happened next…", causing Digger to look at him in shock while Grim-Eyes cringed, fearing the male would end up in her grandmother's bad side.

Instead, Boneclaw Mother looked back at Bloodtail and said in a cold and unsympathetic tone, "Even with none of my council still around to officially carry this out, I feel that I speak accurately for them and everyone when I say you are no longer part of this tribe. Bloodtail, you pathetic excuse of a warrior, I officially declare you an exile with your name EATEN!"

The hyena on the ground thrashed violently, as if it tried to throw a temper tantrum amid all the fear and anger clouding its mind. "No…I…I refuse to accept this…don`t want to die like that filthy skin painter…", the being managed to say before it passed out from the pain, with almost no life left within it.

"Yeesh. At least Ed showed more character and dignity over his exile", Digger snarked as everyone felt it was safe to come forward, not taking their eyes off the defeated hyena.

"Looks like I`ll be dragging this thing out to the forest to die. Do you think we`re safe from all those metal beings now?", Grim-Eyes asked moments later as she poked the nameless hyenas body with her spear.

Straining her ears, Boneclaw Mother heard what sounded like loud cheering in the distance. "I`d say that we succeeded in driving back our attackers, though at a steep cost, given how little I hear of our own", she replied before turning her head towards the new ruins, wondering exactly how many hyenas would come back to see the remains of their once proud and strong home.

Just as the tribe leader got ready to start giving out orders, another sound suddenly reached her and everyone else, making the group of five turn in the direction of the main entrance. "What is that noise? I`ve never heard anything like it", Murai said. "I don`t know. It sounds like a…mix of a stampede and a lightning storm", Grim-Eyes replied, prompting Earl to freeze in fear. "No…we were too late to act again", he could only whisper, getting everyone's attention.

"What do you mean too late to act again? Speak up and tell us", Digger insisted, clutching her pickaxe nervously as the sound came closer at an alarming speed. "There was this explosion in Camden…everything was destroyed before me and these two friends of mine got away", Earl said, suddenly making Grim-Eyes and Boneclaw Mother look at each other in alarm.

"That story Earl told during his council hearing…Boneclaw Mother, the male was right about the metal machines attacking. Do you think that noise is from the enemies last stand? Maybe this is the bad omen you detected earlier?", Grim-Eyes asked, making Boneclaw Mother look unsure how to answer.

"You`re on the right trail of thought Grim-Eyes…Murai, I understand that you mentioned an odd device earlier? One that the metal machines had with them and left in the forest?", the elder hyena asked after a moment of thought, making Murai nod in confirmation before looking up again and spotting the approaching electric wave first.

Right away, Earl screamed at everyone to run and lead the way, brushing past the unconscious unnamed hyena and hoping that this was the time he would get out of the blast zone (despite the odds being against him again). As he sprinted, Grim-Eyes and Digger managed to brush by him while Murai, who was carrying Boneclaw Mother, stayed right next to him.

Despite the stamina all the runners displayed, they barely hopped over the knocked down tribal walls when the electric wave hit them. In under a second, all five were erased from the dimension's existence, followed by the victorious Veiled/hyena army (which included Jhalm and Shadebones), the surrounding forest, the whole land area and ultimately the whole dimension.

To put it simply, once the blast was finished, there was nothing left in the dimension formally known as U.V Wombat. Nothing except the blank emptiness, filling a new endless void of existence.

[?]

It didn`t take long for Earl to become familiar with what happened after the blast. He found himself in the same black void, falling aimlessly and spinning around. Right after the shock of the experience passed by, he looked around and noticed Digger, Murai, Boneclaw Mother and Grim-Eyes nearby, with the wombat and younger hyena screaming in terror while Murai remained creepily stoic to the situation, holding onto Boneclaw Mother and telling her something. The elder hyena didn`t reply to anything and just held onto her face mask, giving a brief glance of her empty and scarred eyeholes.

Before the sole male of the group could do or say anything, he was suddenly blinded by a bright flash and felt himself crash land into something prickly, prompting him to scream and thrash around while his vision steadily came back. How his head injury didn`t get any worse as a consequence, even the Hag would have had a hard time finding out.

Once all the shock and pain passed by and he got back up, Earl took a deep breath and got a good look at his surroundings. Right away, he noticed that he was in yet another forest, only it was nighttime and the place he`d landed on had been a prickly bush.

"Digger!? Boneclaw Mother!? Anyone?!", Earl shouted as he began to move forward, hoping that he wasn`t all alone again. That worry turned out to be proven technically untrue right away, as he slipped on something and fell to his knees. Upon recovering from the stumble and taking a closer look at what he slipped on, a loud scream came out of him.

What Earl saw was the now nameless hyena, who had apparently followed him from the tribe territory to this place. Based on how hard of a landing it had taken (the ground felt a lot harder here and had some rocks scattered around), there was no doubt that the creature was dead, as the ribcage was sticking out entirely with several guts spilled out.

As Earl found himself unable to stop screaming, he heard something approach him from behind, mutter the words "Mother of moles…", in disbelief, stay quiet for a few moments and then kick him in the leg, making him snap out of his endless sense of horror.

"Ow…why did you do that?! There could have been better ways to snap me out of it", Earl found himself tell Digger through his teeth as he rubbed the area where he was hit, surprised by how strong she was. "Well, there wasn`t any other options. I could have done the classic "dump a glass of water" on you, but there isn`t a nearby lake to use, much less a puddle", Digger retorted before looking at the recently made nameless hyena again.

Taking a few deep breathes, the wombat noted the gory details of the dead hyena and tried using the morbid viewing to shake off the experience she just went through. The way she was swallowed up and flung like an arrow really got to her, despite the fact the experience lasted less than a minute (not helped by the feeling of being engulfed up by lightning beforehand (and not that it really hurt her, aside from leaving her fur standing after landing not too far off from Earl)).

After finding the strength to both look away from the dead hyena and move past the world ending event, the wombat focused on the new forest next and found herself say aloud, "Strange. This place is familiar…yet something is clearly off about it…", "I`ve been in this situation before. It started the same both times, yet played out differently", Earl replied before the duo walked away from the corpse, deciding going in any direction from it was the right call.

"Really? What do you mean by that? Did you end up meeting any shadow creatures in one world, or run into hyenas in another?", "Well, the first world I ended in had my ex-wife Joy get hit by a piece of hot pierogi in the face…and the second had me on trial at the hyena tribe for a possible murder of a wombat…really gives you a lot to think about. I will say this though, you`re taking the end of your world rather well", Earl reflected before bringing up an observation.

"I`ve been through so much oddity in my life. Plus, part of me is convinced that the world…my world… isn`t really over. We could have just been thrown across it to another land area, along with everyone else", Digger replied, suddenly remembering that two other hyenas and a Veiled came with her and the male. This prompted her to look around in greater detail and move faster, with Earl following behind and doing the same when he also realized the rest of his groups absence.

A minute into the search, Earl (who was calling out the names of the missing trio with the wombat), looked down and noticed something that made his heart leap with excitement. "Well I`ll be damned", he muttered as he bent over and picked the object up, getting Diggers attention.

"What`s that your holding? Looks like a piece of trash", she said, noticing said item was made of a metal like substance and coated in fancy colors and an odd logo.

"This right here is a soda can, and I know this brand quite well. I always saw an ad for it at the gas station back in my world all the time. Once, when me and my brother were drunk, we tried filling our cars gas tank with that stuff.", he said, taking another moment to examine the item closer.

"Blood and shale. That electric wave really could have been taken us to another plane of existence. If you know what that thing is, we could be back in your world somehow", Digger stated worriedly, making Earl look doubtful.

"The blast in my world looked pretty damaging. It`s possible we`re in a new third world that carries the same drinks as my old one", he replied, causing the duo to process everything alone.

As Digger pondered what question to ask aloud next (like what approach to take in exploring a new world, what the odds were of her biological family surviving back home, if a different brand of soda was used to run those things called cars in the humans world, blah blah blah ect.), she suddenly heard a faint cry in the distance, getting her and the humans full attention.

"Grim-Eyes!? Murai!?", Digger called, recognizing the voices immediately. Without wasting a moment, she rushed in the direction of the sound with her pickaxe drawn. Earl, taking one last glance at the familiar soda can, tossed it aside and followed. He would have stayed right behind the wombat all the way, but experienced a Charlie horse that slowed him to a near stop. As Digger glanced back, he signaled her to keep moving as he massaged the sore area, prompting her to do so.

After what felt like an eternity of running, Digger found herself approaching Murai, Boneclaw Mother and Grim-Eyes near the top of a hill; taking a moment to feel some relief as she noted the trio looked okay.

Digger then noticed that all three were looking down the hill towards what appeared to be a polished dark grey and yellow striped road. Grim-Eyes had her spear raised defensively while Murai, who was still holding onto Boneclaw Mother, gently put her down and told her to get behind her for protection.

"What`s going on here? Did any of those metal things follow us?", Digger immediately asked, prompting the three other females to look at her with surprise. As Murai expressed a bit of thanks that her other friend was alright and Boneclaw Mother stated how glad it was to see her freaky adopted daughter again, Grim replied, "No earth rat, but another odd…thing did", before she and the other two turned their full attention back to the road, as if expecting something to leap out from it at any moment.

"Wait, can someone tell me everything that`s going on? Don`t leave me out of the loop", Digger urgently said as she got her pickaxe ready. In a soft voice, Murai began to give out the details while the hyenas ears perked, picking up the sound of Earl gasping for air as he slowly came over.

"Me and Boneclaw Mother ended up landing in a nearby tree. Thankfully, none of our injuries the mad hyena gave us worsened as a consequence, though it was too risky to get down at the height we were. Plus, I couldn`t set Boneclaw Mother aside without the risk of dropping her, making it more challenging for me to keep my balance".

"A minute later, Grim-Eyes stumbled across us looking a bit perplexed and fearful by that…electric thing that hit us ("Come on Murai, I wasn`t that scared", Grim-Eyes commented in between the sentence) and gave us instructions on how to move down carefully, telling me where to put my foot and which branches Boneclaw Mother should grab. We somehow made it, despite our fears, though the sense of victory didn`t last long".

As Earl finally got to the rest of the group, giving a silent and awkward greeting before he collapsed to the ground exhausted, Boneclaw Mother continued, "My ears picked up this thing that gave off what sounded like a short but aggressive blaring noise. Grim-Eyes then spotted these weird lights that dashed by; ones that belonged to this monster that has a foul lingering scent".

The elder hyena wrinkled her nose a bit when Grim-Eyes suddenly growled, spotting the aforementioned lights again.

Everyone but Earl braced themselves as they watched the source of said lights approach, expecting another attack. However, said lights ended up whisking past the group, letting out a brief, loud honking noise as it did.

"That`s the second time we saw it. Odd that the enemy hasn`t attempted to move in closer" Grim-Eyes commented to Digger as she tried to process the new threats potential strategy and mindset. The wombat was about to give her own idea of the creature's tactics when Earl, who recovered enough to stand up and speak, interrupted her.

"Wait a minute. Hold it. Hold it. That wasn`t a monster. I think that was just a truck on a highway", he said, looking closer and noticing the familiar road. "Truck?", Murai asked, straining to find a possible definition in her head while Digger and Grim-Eyes looked confused. Boneclaw Mother just listened casually, collecting all the knowledge she could.

"Yes, a truck. It`s like this big machine you control to get around somewhere quickly. It`s not dangerous, unless you intentionally or accidently run in front of it", Earl said, trying to keep the excitement of seeing something else familiar out of his voice.

Everyone began to lower their guard, though the looks of worry and concern didn`t leave their faces. "So we`re not in the world we came from. All the remaining tribemates are going to freak out when they discover we`re missing Boneclaw Mother", Grim-Eyes commented, making the tribe leader nod with concern. "I fear the other Veiled will feel the same when they notice I`m absent. Jhalm won`t take the news peacefully", Murai added, prompting Digger to give her a pat on the back out of concern.

"Guys, I don`t think anyone who was left when that electric wave hit is going to notice you gone in your world. Odds are they got taken elsewhere like us. They could have even ended up in another world, like me when I got separated from my original group", Earl ended up blurting out, earning him a hostile gaze from Grim-Eyes and an uneasy look from Digger and Murai.

"You`re lying. The remaining members of the tribe are here. I know it! They could be regrouping and looking for survivors as we speak. I say we should take action and look around, everywhere we can possibly search", Grim-Eyes finally said, gripping her spear while trying not to jump at the sound of two passing cars behind her.

"Grim-Eyes, we are in a place that is alien to all but one of us. And in times like these, running out ignorantly won`t help, especially considering how we`re unaware of what is or isn`t a threat. If any of the tribe got here, they`d know better than to just move about in such reckless fashion. They`d lay low, come up with an understanding to the new area and then venture out. And if they were in this forest, we`d be found quickly".

"Plus, I don`t hear anyone nearby. These ears may be old, but they don`t lie when they say it`s just the five of us here (outside the truck things of course)", Boneclaw Mother said, making Digger, Murai and Earl stop and think while Grim-Eyes pressed on.

"What are you suggesting then?", "I say we lay low in a safe place for a bit and recover from the ordeal. Those machines will hopefully take some time to get here, and we need all the strength we can get when the fight inevitably comes back to us. Perhaps Earl can fill us in on how this new world works till then, if it`s not so different to begin with", Boneclaw Mother replied, sensing an objection from Grim-Eyes. A stern "gaze" in return made the younger hyena back down, prompting her to feel some of her recent fears and confusion again (and in turn making her note it`d be too risky to do any scouting in this kind of state).

"Fine. We`ll hide out somewhere, get a bit of "education" about what we`re dealing with and then go out and try to find a way back to the tribe. I still say there`s a way to get back to where we came from", Grim-Eyes reluctantly said, with Murai and Digger nodding in agreement.

"Good. Now let's go and find somewhere safe to stay for the time being. These injuries are starting to feel a bit sore. Mother of Little Earthquakes, I take it that you still have good skills in scouting?", Boneclaw Mother said, gesturing to the bandages on her chest before turning her attention to the wombat.

"You could say that. I was clever enough to survive alone for a lengthy time (though I wouldn`t say that`s something to brag about)", Digger replied, shivering a split second from another set of bad memories. "Then you and Grim-Eyes will lead the way to some shelter. We`ll all be right behind you to help", Boneclaw Mother said, holding Earl and Murai`s hands for escort while making a mental note to have a talk with the wombat later.

As Digger and Grim-Eyes started to move away from the road and approached the deeper section of the forest and Earl and Murai lead Boneclaw Mother through the area (with Earl thinking of modern day things to bring up later on) the wombat suddenly recalled the body of the nameless hyena and brought it up, earning brief ire from both living hyenas.

"Mother of Little Earthquakes, leave that topic behind in the past. I don`t want to think of that foul being for as long as I live. Least some carrion and scavengers will have a real treat soon when they stumble by its corpse", Boneclaw Mother replied bluntly, prompting Digger and everyone else to drop the subject permanently.

Deciding another topic needed to be brought up to change the mood a bit, Earl asked Digger how she ended up getting the nickname Mother of Little Earthquakes, realizing he`d never officially asked about the origin to said nickname.

"From the hyena tribe when I was adopted into their society. That was just one of the days in my life I never seem to forget", Digger replied, brushing past some foliage while Grim-Eyes used her spear like a machete.

"Interesting answer…You know, if I stayed in your tribe for a long time, would I have been renamed to fit in?", "Defiantly. It`d be weird calling someone "Earl" for a long period of time", Grim-Eyes joked, making the male look ready to object, only to back down at the last second.

"Grim-Eyes, don`t be mean".

"I was just joking to ease some tension Boneclaw Mother. Besides, I`m right about a new tribe name coming up. Remind me again about your life Earl. Anything recent happened in it that strongly defines you?"

"Well, there is my karma list of all the misdeeds I`m trying to undo", Earl said, patting his pocket with the sheet of paper.

"How about "Righter of Many Crimes and Felonies?" It does give a bad male vibe, and I sure love those", Boneclaw Mother said in a giddy tone, making Earl look considerate while Grim-Eyes looked embarrassed, causing her to focus on what was ahead while seeking a way to avenge everyone affected by the attack (with the other four having the latter idea on their minds as well).

 **End of Digger (Arc 6)**

 **Everyone's status:**

-Hyacinth, Onslow, Rose, Emmet, Daisy, Crabman, Randy, Blaire (in the unknown mystery world at building, waiting out the sandstorm inside)

-Vianna, Velvet, Thomas, James, Devan [NPC], Richard, Liz (still falling in between dimensions)

-Joy, Catalina, Mae, Angus, Jerry, George, Kramer, Elaine (in the unknown mystery world waiting out a sandstorm in a cave)

-Bea (either with Seinfeld/NITW/My Name is Earl group OR brainwashed as the new Alpha for the big bad)

\- Gregg (either with Seinfeld/NITW/My Name is Earl group OR brainwashed as the new Alpha for the big bad)

-Earl, Digger, Murai, Boneclaw Mother, Grim-Eyes (in a new unnamed world)

-Daddy (riding his bike wherever the universe takes him next)

-Various hyena warriors and Veiled member (current status unknown)


	53. New July update

Hey everyone, I`m just giving an update on the current status of my story. I`ve went through a lot of stuff in June, and long story short I was unable to do much writing (life got in the way, ect. ect.).

I`m still working on the story and don`t intend to leave it unfinished. While I keep doing some work, here is an outline of what`s to come:

 _ **Tales From the Mystery World (Vol. 3):**_

The first segment covers everyone still at the mystery building (a.k.a Richard Buckets old place of occupation (sorta)), showing what they`re doing before calling it a day:

-Onslow and Daisy going to sleep in the back of the Crabshacks kitchen, with the couple discussing some philosophy in regards to their situation.

-Randy and Crabman going to bed together atop a pool table while having a chat that seems similar to the end of an episode on "My Name is Earl". The device Crabman is working on and the debate about how Earl, Joy and Catalina are doing are discussed, as well as the status of Dodge and Earl Jr.

-Rose talking to Emmet as he keeps guard at the front door for any other surprise attacks, trying to get him to come to a "sleepover" in the same room Randy and Crabman came out of earlier. Emmet declines and talks a bit with her before being interrupted by Hyacinth and Blaire (with the former looking uneasy next to the latter), leaving him by himself at the end after Blaire also chats a bit with him. Emmet struggles to stay awake while the other three women go to sleep in the closet.

The second segment covers the other half of the MNIE group alongside the Night in the Woods crew (sans whoever wasn`t freed in the Seinfeld arc) and the Seinfeld characters. Basically, Mae is the main character, and she stars in a 2-D sidescroller minigame, getting a vision that makes her draw an arrow in the sand outside before telling everyone else it`s the way they need to go (towards the building in fact). Feeling there`s no better option, the team ultimately does so, having "settled down" on some rivalries.

The next intermission covers Mal fixing the broken pieces of Bea/Greggs mind control device while the Boss ponders over his plan and actually debates if it was worth it in the first place, as Boneclaw Mothers speech towards him really got to him. A new accomplice is also introduced in the next intermission.


End file.
